Feelings Change
by cupcakes-20
Summary: James was in love with her from the start. As for Lily, yeah she hated him. When he finally got her to see it his way they became inseperable, except when Sirius was around of course... he loved ruining the moment! LJ OCS OCR R&R Please!
1. Loving and Hating

**Feelings Change**

**Disclaimers Note: Anything that you may recognize is obviously not mine, but the lovely J.K. Rowling's who I wish I could be:) Oh, and this is not going to change anytime soon, so .. sorry!**

**A/N: This is my fourth story, I hope you like this. Unlike some of my other new stories ( Meant to be together? And Switching Places) I don't think I will be abandoning this one nor will I even think of abandoning my baby, Harry's Secret Admirer.**

**There are many special events that will take place in this story. So make sure you keep your eyes open! I plan to finish this and then make a sequel so there will be much more of this in store! Please read and review, I would really appreciate it! Reviews always encourage me and give me reason to write. Flames are welcome as long as you have reason behind why you are upset. Constructive critizism is also welcome, and aspiring writer needs to be told what's right, and what's wrong.**

**Much love,**

**Lissy**

**Chapter 1**

**Loving and Hating**

It was early afternoon and Professor McGonagall was doing nothing other than rambling about werewolves. How the moon affects them and the process they go through during transformations. Though James train of thought was nowhere close to werewolves, it was all focused on the girl in front of him. He sat with his quill loosely wobbling in one hand and his chin lazily rested on the other as he stared at the love of his life; Lily Evans.

She sat there, never knowing of his constant staring. Her long red curls fell teasingly down her back in front of him. He had always watched her, and always had loved her since the first day he laid eyes on her. The love for her started the very second his begging did, the very second she hated him.

_Flashback:_

_James was sitting in his compartment when she walked by. She was a very pretty girl, her red wavy hair was pinned back in a half pony tail, with strands of curls falling down to frame her face. She had bright emerald eyes that showed her kindness through them, she was beautiful, the perfect kind of girl to pull a prank on. _

_James looked over towards his best friend, Sirius Black, and motioned towards Lily._

"_There! That girl! I think she looks innocent enough. Let's pull it on her." James smirked and pointed towards a box with holes sitting on the ledge of the window. Indicating a ruthless prank, his friends face lit up._

_Nodding eagerly, Sirius grabbed the box, "Come on. Let's follow her._"

_Smirking again, James motioned towards Remus, "Come on Moony, aren't you going to join in the fun too?"_

"_No thanks, I don't like pestering girls, I would rather read this interesting and quiet book. You two should probably stay here too." Remus gave them a scolding look, but James and Sirius ignored him. Remus of course was right ... as always._

"_Alright then Moony, we'll be back in a bit... listen for a scream!" With that the two boys ran out of the compartment and looked through the windows of each one they passed until the found Lily with two other girls. One was a blue eyed blond and the other had straight brown hair with hazel eyes. They were all talking and laughing. James motioned for the box and Sirius handed it to him. Then Sirius cracked the door open and James lifted the lid, letting out a huge spider. The spider crawled into the compartment and they waited._

"_AHHHHH! MERLIN MALLORY, LOOK AT THAT SPIDER!" The screaming of Lily could be heard all down the corridor._

_She flung the door open and ran out, tripping over Sirius and landing on James. James smirked evilly and started laughing. From that moment on she knew that he was a jerk and that was the day she would start hating him. Lily lifted her fist and punched him square in the face. And that was when James started to like her, she had spunk and she was beautiful, just the kind of girl for him._

_End of Flashback_

James lifted his hand dazily and placed it at his jaw. Remembering the day as if it were yesterday, he cradled it as if Lily had just done the punishment.

"Uh hem, Mr. Potter, would you care to join us sometime soon? I know you are probably in deep thought about werewolves right about now, considering that bit of drool forming on your bottom lip." Professor McGonagall said in her strict tone.

Snickering quietly, Sirius and James shook their heads at James. Acting as if they were ashamed, James scoffed at them.

"Sorry, Professor, won't happen again," James replied clearing his throat while a must unwanted heat rose in his cheeks.

Professor McGonagall looked at him over the top of her square spectacles and scowled down at him. Returning to the lesson she left him to be tortured by his friends.

"You just can't help staring at her, can you? If you are so overly obsessed with that flaming ball of hair, why don't you ask her to Hogsmeade?" Sirius said leaning across the table to speak to him.

Sighing heavily, James looked at him with sad chocolate eyes, "I can't! She never hears me out and I always seemed to get turned down. She is the only girl in this whole school who'll turn me down twenty-nine times in a row and not give a shit."

Sirius rolled his eyes and gestured towards Lily once again, "Well, it's worth a try. I can't stand blabbing to you when I don't even know if you are listening or daydreaming about her again... like right now!"

"What, huh? Oh sorry Padfoot, she turned around to ask her friend for some parchment. That was a moment I actually got to look at her face." He said now turning to Sirius who had a silly smug look on his face and just rolled his eyes.

"Never mind, just go ask her out, Prongs! You're driving me bloody mad!" Sirius said, shaking his head as if he were defeated. Looking out the window, he left James to his thoughts.

Thinking about what his best friend had just said, James took it into context. Even if he did get turned down again, he had to persist. One day there would be Lily Potter, and he was going to make it happen.

The bell rung throughout the quiet school and it signaled for lunch. James took a deep breath and gathered up his supplies, which hadn't been used at all, and started to leave the classroom.

He glanced over at Lily and saw her laughing with her friend, Amanda Hemmings, and smirked thinking that some day she would be laughing at something he said. Then she did something that made his heart drop immediately, she looked over at him and smiled. She then turned back to her friend, laughed and walked out of the room. Maybe Lily did like him after all... well it was something for him to hope for. Or maybe is was just a wish he had deep in his heart.

"Come on Lily we know you like him. I mean it's so obvious!" Amanda said piling her plate with fruit, chips and a sandwich.

"Yeah Lils, just admit it," Mallory smiled at Lily while picking up her own plate.

Lily rolled her eyes in disgust and sighed, repeating what she had been telling her two best friends for the past half hour, "How many times do I have to tell you two, I do not like James Potter. I will never like him! He is an inconsiderate prat, and he only likes me because I am the only girl in this entire school that hates his guts!"

" Okay, so that may be true that you are the only girl that hates him, but that may not be why he likes you. I mean you're smart. you're pretty, and definitely skinny, so where is a reason for not every single boy to like you?" Mallory suggested as she began to dig into her food.

"Why would he like me though? Every time he asks me out what do I say?" Lily asked rhetorically.

" No!" The girls said in unison

"Which is why you have to let us get you two together, Lils. He is absolutely perfect for you!" Amanda added quickly, trying to make a good manuvere.

Lily slammed her fork down on the table and looked at them angrily as she said, "Listen guys, I do not like him and I never will like him! I am sick and tired of telling you two no! I will NOT go out with him!"

"Fine Lily, but you are being ridiculous. The time will come when you eventually go out with him, and I will get to say I told you so." Amanda said looking at her as if she were insane.

"Well look who it is now. Here comes the man of the hour with Sirius and Remus." The blonde said checking to make sure her hair was okay, well good enough for the object of her affection: Sirius Black.

Rolling her sparkling emerald eyes, Lily looked back down towards her food.

"Good afternoon, ladies." Remus said as he sat himself across from Amanda.

"Hey guys!" Mallory replied as Sirius sat down across from her, leaving James to sit across from Lily.

" So, how are you three doing this morning?" Sirius said smiling at Mallory, making her heart melt at his charm.

" J-just fine thank you." She replied nervously, trying to act calm and relaxed.

Lily looked over at the two major flirts and rolled her eyes again, today everything seemed to be disgusting her. James cleared his throat and took another deep breath, it was time for him to ask her.

"Hey Evans, how are you?" He said coolly, trying to give her his girl charming smile.

Lily looked at him smugly and said, " Just fine Potter."

He continued to smile as he replied, " So, are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

" I don't know why do you ask?" she retorted quickly while sending him a death stare.

A pang when off in his heart every time she did that. She looked gorgeous when she was angry.

"Whoa, a little hostile aren't we? I was just wondering if you might want to go with me?"

Amanda nudged Lily hard and Mallory stepped on her foot, but Lily ignored her friends never ending pestering

She stood up quickly and said, " No, James Potter, I will not go to Hogsmeade with you! Why in the name of Merlin did you even ask me? I will never go out with you so you might as well just give it up! I'm going to the common room, don't follow me, none of you!"

She picked up her bag and flung it over her shoulder. Her heals clicked loudly over the hard floor as she stomped over to the Great Hall doors, opening them in anger and then slamming them shut.

Lily turned the corner, her hair flying behind her and her emerald eyes that were usually so kind, flaming in anger. She couldn't believe the nerve of everyone, they were all trying to set her up with James, and she knew for a fact that she would never go out with anyone with an ego as big as his.

Lily approached the portrait of the Fat Lady and said the password shortly " Flaming Flamingos!"

The Fat Lady looked at her sadly and asked, " Is there something wrong my dear?"

Lily glared at her and emotionlessly replied, " No."

The Fat Lady nodded and the portrait swung open revealing the Gryffindor Common room. She walked into the warm room and looked around, noticing that a few people were there, and that she couldn't have privacy. So with one more quick glance, she jotted up the girls staircase.

Lily opened the door to her dorm sat her bag down on the chest at the end of her bed, she then sat down. Taking her diary in her hands, she began to write:

_September 4th_

_Thursday, 12:30 noon_

_Dear Diary,_

_You know what? I am sick and tired of this. No matter what I do I cannot convince anyone that I don't like James, today it happened again. Mallory, Amanda and I were talking and once again they were trying to convince me to let them set James and I up. I don't know what I have to do to get it through everyone's head that I HATE HIM I do not like him in ANY possible way!_

_James asked me to Hogsmeade AGAIN today and I told him no... don't I always? Everyone is always at my throat telling me that we are "meant for each other" sure... they are mental I tell you, mental! How could James and I possibly be meant for each other? There are a million differences between us! Look here, I will even list them:_

_I am the smartest witch of our age._

_James cannot even get a D in Charms._

_I am quiet and am always obeying the rules and my elders._

_James is loud, annoying, obnoxious, rude, and always gets into trouble! Always trying to impress me._

_I hate him._

_He loves me._

_My hobbies are, reading, writing, singing, studying, talking, and shopping._

_His hobbies are, Quidditch, pestering Severus, getting into trouble, flirting with me, and driving me insane!_

_You see we have nothing in common, I don't know why he doesn't just give up!_

_Well, lunch is almost over, I think I better head off to Charms class._

_Note to self: Make sure to get the **Transfiguration essay done by Monday!**_

_Lily Evans_

Magically locking her diary, she rose from her bed. She stuffed her diary in her bag and flung it across her shoulder. A well needed sigh was released and it was time to face the music.

Taking a deep breath, she started her journey. She knew as soon as she walked down the stairs, Mallory and Amanda would be waiting for her. Plastering a fake smile on her face, she took the plunge. Sure enough, Mallory raced up to her and took her in a friendly hug as soon as she entered the Common Room.

"I'm sorry Lils, I shouldn't try to push you into relationships like I do." The blonde said frantically as if she were going to lose her any moment.

Lily smiled a genuine smile and her anger at the two disappeared. Mallory always came back and apologized, her big blue eyes begging for forgiveness. This always led to the end of fights.

"That's ok Mal, I know you don't mean to. I shouldn't get so frustrated." Lily reassured her by patting her on the back.

Mallory let go of Lily and smiled, " But, I still think you two are meant for each other, even though you hate him with a burning passion."

Lily rolled her eyes and smirked, " Whatever Mal, where is Amanda?"

Mallory gestured towards the girls stairs, "In the loo. She'll be back momentarily."

"Oh okay," Lily said, walking over towards the chair by the fire place. "What time is it? Shouldn't we be on our way to Charms?"

Mallory shrugged and replied " Its 12:45, we should probably head off when Amanda gets back."

Lily nodded and thought about Charms class, she wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Professor Flitwick had assigned a seating chart and Lily was to sit between Mallory and James. The thought made her shudder.

"You know what? I don't think I will go to Charms class," Lily said jokingly, sighing heavily and shaking her head at Mallory, " I really don't want to sit by him."

Mallory laughed, " Someday he will be the only person you will ever want to sit by Lils, I know it. But like I said I won't push you into anything anymore, but you should know that when you left, James started to go after you. Sirius wouldn't let him though, and instead he went to the bathroom, and didn't come back all of lunch."

Lily felt slightly guilty... she was a bit harsh with him. " Oh," was all she had to say. Now she felt horrible.

_Why should I feel guilty? He is an ignorant prat, and I hate him!_

_**But you do feel guilty, and maybe it's because he has feelings too, and you know that. You should apologize.**_

_You've got to be kidding me, I wouldn't apologize to him in a million years! You of all people should know that._

_**First of all, I'm not a person, I am your conscious, and actually I know that you do want to apologize but you just don't know how. Right?**_

_Erm, no,... no ... no way! Why would I want to apologize? That's absurd!_

_**Actually it is not absurd in any possible way, I advise you apologize to him. Lily he likes you very very much, loves you most likely, and you just squashed him into the ground. Do you remember what you said to him?**_

_Yes of course, and I admit it was mean... very mean. But ... but... I will not apologize!_

_**Do it! Now, you know you should... and I believe you want to!**_

_Oh, shut up will you! You know nothing!_

Lily would've continued arguing with herself, but just at that second Amanda walked down from the girls stairs.

"Lily! I am so sorry about earlier, you know me, I have such a big mouth!" Amanda said giving Lily another hug.

"It's fine Amanda, let's just get to Charms... even though I really, really don't want to go" Lily said, picking up her bag and swinging it over her shoulder again.

"Yeah, after what you said to him I would feel pretty bad too!" Mallory said walking towards the portrait.

"Who said I felt guilty?" _Even though I do, maybe I should apologize._

"Sorry Lils, I just figured you did. Usually you would, but I guess because you hate him and all... that you wouldn't feel guilty." Mallory said rolling her eyes, but Lily didn't notice, she was watching her feet

"I think you should apologize to him.. I mean after all you didn't really give him a chance." Amanda advised.

"Fine I will, but.. it's not like I want to," Lily said quickly, still watching her feet.. but what she didn't see was Amanda and Mallory smiling at each other and then wink. They obviously had a plan.

**A/N: So do you like it? I hope so! Alright, now it's your turn, I need you to tell me what you like and what you don't so I can improve. Please give me some insight. Now just push the little button next to the box that says " submit review" and then type something in. Annoynomous reviews are welcomed! Thanks to all of my readers, I appreciate you taking time to read my stories. Okay enough from me. **

**Love you all,**

**Lissa**


	2. The Project

**Chapter 2**

**Introduction to The Project**

_'Have you lost your mind completely? Are you insane? Why did the thought of apologizing to that insufferable git even cross your mind for a second?' _ Lily thought mentally slapping herself, but she continued walking at an average pace.

She really had gotten herself into it this time, why did she have to be such a redheaded blonde? And why was it that she had to keep reminding herself that she hated the complete prat continuously? He had done a million rotten things to her that had hurt like a sack of bricks being shot at your face. One particular time was still very clear in her mind, it stuck in there so because it was extremely embarrassing.

**Flashback:**

_Lily was sitting in Potions class listening to the angry Professor Shelt chastise one of her fellow students when suddenly she felt a rush in her bladder. She flinched and glanced at the clock, reading it she noticed that there were only twenty-five seconds of class left, thank Merlin for that._

_( sound of bell )_

_Lily stuffed her quill, book, ink bottle, and parchment into her bag carelessly. She did not meet up with Mallory who was usually waiting for her, and she did not say goodbye to Amanda, but she made a bee line for the nearest bathroom. _

_She flew around the corner and up the dungeon stairs, trying very hard to be careful not to step on a fellow second year student. As Lily neared the girls lavatory she noticed a little glowing sign posted on the door, she ran up to it and read the sign sighing heavily and angrily stomping her foot as she did so._

_**Girls Lavatory Closed for Repair, DO NOT ENTER!**_

" _No!" she muttered out loud._

_What was she to do? The nearest girls bathroom was up in the Gryffindor Tower, on the SEVENTH floor and she was in the DUNGEONS! She had no time to get there and keep from peeing herself. Lily looked around quickly and edged towards the boys bathroom, she had to go, and she had to go now. Within a matter of seconds she had slipped unnoticed into the unoccupied bathroom. _

_Lily ran to the nearest stall and relieved herself, grateful that no one had seen her. Just as she flushed the toilet the door to the boys bathroom swung open and in came two boys chatting and laughing loudly._

" _Oh no, oh merlin no! This cannot be happening," Lily thought to herself, trying to think of a plan. _

" _Can you believe the look on that git's face? That was classic mate!" she heard one of the boys say._

" _Yeah, it was pretty cool wasn't it?" the other replied._

_As they continued to talk their voices grew nearer. Lily thought fast and grabbed her bag, she hoisted herself on top of the toilet and hoped to god that they wouldn't notice a thing... that thought was soon gone when there was a loud splash and Lily slipped and fell into the toilet. Her foot was jammed and she couldn't possibly get out without some assistance. She closed her eyes and prayed that the two unknown students had not heard a thing, but once again that thought was shot out of her mind when one of the boys said, " Did you hear that mate? There's someone in here, it sounded like they fell in or something, let's help 'em,"_

" _No no no!" Lily thought desperately, the only thing that could possibly make this situation any worse for her was to be seen like this by James Potter. Boy, he could spread a rumor through the castle like there was nothing to it._

_One of the students murmured a spell and the lock on the door unlatched, Lily continued to jerk on her leg, hoping that it would dislodge itself, but it didn't... of course. The boys pushed the door open and then Lily knew that this year, from now on, would be her worst. There standing in front of her were the, ever popular and adored by all girls except her, James Potter and Sirius Black. She closed her eyes and waited for the worst, internally praying that it would never come, but.. yet again, it did._

_Sirius starred at her like she was a witch with a dog's head and had a fishes fin for feet, "What the bloody hell are you doing in here!" he asked as his eyebrows furrowed and he dropped his books from his hands._

" _Lily! Lily Evans, the almighty-book-worm-Lily-Evans has snuck into the boys bathroom!" James said disbelievingly. There was a long pause and then the two boys looked at each other, threw their heads back, and began howling with laughter._

_Lily opened her eyes and held back angry tears as she shouted, " Oh, shove it up your hairy arses and help me out of here now!"_

_James stopped laughing, took one glance at her, and then started up again. Sirius shook his head at her and then laughed as he offered her a hand, she took it and glared at James. She hated James, she had hated James, and now she would forever hate James. _

_Sirius yanked on her hand and jerked her out of the toilet. She wobbled a bit and then let go of him, grabbed her bag and pulled out her wand. The boys continued to laugh at her, gradually getting louder. Lily ignored them and said a charm and with that her sopping wet leg quickly dried, she then stuffed her wand back into her bag and ran out of the bathroom, hoping she would soon die. And need I say it, .. she didn't._

_As she was on her way to Potions class the next day she knew that very second that James had been at work with the bathroom incident, for now, everyone knew. She knew this because people would stop and stare at her then break out into hysterics. _

_Lily thought that she hated James on the train arriving at Hogwarts for the very first time, but that was nothing compared to the hate she held for him now._

_**End of Flashback**_

Lily quickened her pace as she kept the war over apologizing or not apologizing going. She was so consumed in her thoughts that she didn't noticed that Mallory and Amanda had been whispering for over 5 minutes.

_I shouldn't apologize, this is crazy. After all he has done to me and then I apologize to him? Bullocks, that's insane._

_**It isn't like you to be purposely cruel to others, you should apologize. It isn't hard, all you have to say is 'sorry' and then your done!**_

_I'm not doing it!_

_**You are too.**_

_NO!_

_**Yes, and watch where your going because your going to run into J-**_

That thought was never completed because just at that second she bumped into someone, making her books fly everywhere and papers to scatter across the floor.

" Oh dear, what a mess! I am so sorry," Lily started as the man in front of her bent down and helped her pick up the books, but then she noticed who it was and wished that those words had never escaped her mouth.

James stood up along with Lily and smiled charmingly, " No problem, here you go," he said handing her a stack of books.

She forced a smile and then took the books from him. " Thanks," she replied shortly.

_**Do it now, right now. **_ Her conscious told her.

" Erm,.. Potter?" she said carefully choosing her words, she didn't want to seem as if she actually wanted to apologize to him. But she wanted the slight annoying feeling of guilt to leave her.

He looked at her and smiled again, " Yes?

" Look, today at lunch, well I shouldn't have been so.. harsh. I wasn't feeling well and Mal and Amanda were nagging on me about something, so I was a bit tense. So I guess I'm .. sorry." _Damn that was too nicely put, what should I say to make that smile disapparate? **It was just fine, shut up and live on!**_

" That's fine, so er ... do you happen to want to go with me _now_?" James tried as they started off towards Charms class.

Lily laughed and then glared at him, " No thanks Potter, I'll skip on that offer," and with that she sped off in the direction of the Classroom, feeling much lighter.

Xxxxx

" Look, today at lunch, well I shouldn't have been so.. harsh," Lily started looking at him with less disgust than earlier, now only if it was like this all of the time, " I wasn't feeling well and Mal and Amanda were nagging on me about something, so I was a bit tense. So I guess I'm.. sorry,"

James was shocked, she actually just apologized, maybe he should try again. Yes, he would.

" That's fine, so er ... do you happen to want to go with me _now_?" he asked, hoping that she would see that he was different. He wasn't the prick he used to be, and she should have noticed that when he helped her with those books.

She looked at him with utter disgust and then chuckled a bit, " No thanks Potter, I'll skip on that offer," she said as she sped off towards Charms Class.

_Bloody brilliant, that sure went well. _James thought to himself as he shook his head and slowly turned to follow Lily.

A few minutes later he entered the classroom and took his seat next to Lily. James opened his bag and pulled out his parchment, a quill, the Charms Vol. 6 book, and his bottle of ink. He was actually going to listen and try to prove to Lily that he wasn't like he used to be. Maybe she went for the brains rather than the bronze, either way he would find out.

Since the teacher wasn't going to be in for a couple more minutes James leaned back in his chair, tilting it backwards a bit as he watched the few students who had came early.

James sneakily stole a admiring glance at Lily who was scribbling something down on a piece of parchment as she chatted... more like whispered with Mallory, considering he couldn't hear one word. He watched her write something down quickly and then pass it to Mallory, grinning like mad. Mallory would smile, scribble something down, slide it across the desk towards Lily and eventually they would both end up laughing about ten seconds later.

Growing more and more curious by the second as to what was on that piece of parchment, James began to tilt backwards father so that he could see the paper in clear view. Mallory just happened to glance over towards him and noticed that he was trying to look at the paper, so she leaned down and whispered something into Lily's ear. Lily nodded giggled and then leaned in closer towards the paper making it harder for James to see it. James, being the ignoramus that he was, didn't notice what was happening, all he knew was that if he leaned back just a bit further he could see it... a bit more... just a bit more,... there it was! It said : _Can you believe that git? Bet he's trying to see it. **Yea, surely he is, that idiot, he's gonna fall right out! **_

But that was all James saw because he lost his balance and his chair toppled over backwards, making his head collide with the wall behind him. Lily gasped, in surprise, and turned quickly only to find James on the ground with his feet in the air. She snorted and then looked at Mallory, instantly the two burst out laughing. A very unwanted heat could be felt running up to his cheeks making him look as if he had spilled a bottle of bright red strawberry topping on his face.

He managed to fake a laugh and then stand up, rubbing his head he looked over at Lily and said, " Heh, guess I lost my balance a bit,"

Lily smiled and snorted, " Yeah, just a bit," and that of course set off the two gigglers again.

He looked away from the two and picked up his chair again, setting down and this time, made a mental note not to tilt the chair. James quickly recovered from the embarrassing moment, there had been many times before where James had made it clear to everyone that he was a bit slow. Storing the memory of what had just happened in the back of his mind, he began to ponder on what he had seen on the parchment:

_Can you believe that git? Bet he's trying to see it. Yea, surely he is, that idiot, he's gonna fall right out!_

They had to of been talking about him, Lily always called him a git, he was trying to see the paper and he _was _ going to fall out of his chair. James felt like a definite ass now, he had just made it clear to Lily that he wasn't good enough for her. There went another chance at his one and only true love, when would the chance finally come?

His thoughts were interrupted when the doors at the back of the class swung open and in strolled Professor Flitwick.

" Good morning class," he said as he approached his specialized desk and stood up on his chair, smiling broadly at everyone.

" Good morning, Professor," they all said emotionlessly.

" Glad you agree, now let's begin." he started waving his wand in a circular motion over the black board, " Please take out your quills and parchment, today we will be beginning to take notes on the subjects that will be presented on your N.E.W.T's next year." a very long list appeared on the board and a slight groan escaped the mouths of the students, except Lily, James and Mallory.

Lily and Mallory because, they actually liked to learn and James, because he wanted to impress Lily. James reluctantly picked up his quill and started taking down notes as fast as he possibly could, trying to keep up with Flitwick's speech.

Charms passed in a flash and before they knew it, they were in the dungeons classroom waiting for the new Potions teacher, Professor McClerk, to enter the room and begin the next boring assignment. The last class of the day had finally came, then it would be dinner time, and the second week of their sixth year would be over, the weekend ahead of them.

James got out his supplies once again and in a few moments the doors slammed open and in stomped Professor McClerk.

" Today I will be pairing each of you up with a partner of the opposite sex." he started, this caught James attention at once, he might get paired up with Lily! " We will be starting a project that also will be going on in Herbology, but considering the fact that you don't have Herbology until Monday afternoon, I , myself, will be the one informing you on this project rather than Professor Sprout."

James was confused, what did Herbology have to do with Potions, and vise versa? Apparently not only James was confused, but pretty much the entire classroom, because a buzz erupted among the students. Everyone was saying " Huh?" and "What's this maniac going on about?" But the chatting ceased when the professor cleared his throat and rapped his wand on his desk getting everyones attention.

" As I was saying, I will be informing you on the details of this project. For the next month you will be given a seed to raise into a full grown plant. Eventually this plant will form a bud, which will then turn into a flower, depending on how well you raised this flower the color of it will vary." he began, watching the look of confusion disappear off many of their faces, " Now, where does Potions Class come into this? You may ask. I will tell you. This specific type of plant does not require water, nor does it require sunlight, but you must make a special, and very difficult, potion to give to it every week. If you make the potion incorrectly or forget to feed this plant than it will remember."

A buzz began to fill the room again except it wasn't confusion, but excitement and anxiousness.

The professor cleared his throat again and continued once more, " The grading scale goes as follows: You will receive an 'A' if you make the potion correctly at all times, and you can only miss one day of feedings. You will receive a 'B' if you make the potion incorrectly once, and/or miss two days of feedings. You will receive a 'C' if you make the potion incorrectly twice, and/or miss three days of feedings, if you miss anymore feedings or make the potion incorrectly over three times then you fail this project. I will be able to tell whether you will get an A, B,C or fail by the color of the plant, if it is blue, you get an A, red you get a B, yellow you earn a C, and purple you fail. Any questions?" He asked looking over everyone, no one moved.

" Oh! And I almost forgot, since this is a new project and it is only being done by the sixth years we are going to try doing something new. Dumbledore has said that your partner and yourself will be sharing a dorm with your plant, you must get along with your partner and you will be making the potions in your dormitories. This plant will be like... your child, I suppose, ... you must take care of it, and if you don't your grades will suffer." he paused and watched the new look of fright, and worry cross the students young faces.

" If there aren't any questions then I will begin pairing."

James looked over at Lily, who looked very happy, not worried, or scared in the least, but rather eager. He smiled and prayed that he would be paired with her, this would give him the chance to show her that he was definitely not the ass he was before.

" Alright then, let's begin,... Remus Lupin, with Amanda Hemmings,... Sarah Clarkson with Wilson Rone ... James Potter with Lily Evans," as soon as those two names came out of his mouth James smirked and looked over at Lily who had her mouth gaped open, looking at the professor like he had gone mad.

Lily stayed like that for awhile, and James just kept beaming until McClerk finished and began handing out directions to their dormitories and the rules and regulations once again.

Once class was over James headed towards the Great Hall, still bearing that smile that melted all of the females in the school except for Lily, who was very upset indeed!

A/N: I am so sorry this took so long! I really did try... WYNTER! Lol jk ok I hope you enjoyed this, sorry I stopped here! Gimme some reviews and I will update! Thanks a million!


	3. Friends?

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, they helped a lot. Well, what are you waiting for! Go ahead read, that's why I typed it, isn't it? Lol.**

**Chapter 3**

" **Friends?"**

_'What the bloody hell? Why Potter? Anyone but Potter,'_ Lily thought, sitting stock straight in her chair, mouth open, eyes burning imaginary holes in the body of her new professor. Lily closed her mouth, turned to Amanda and narrowed her eyes at her.

" Did you hear what I just heard?" she asked still scowling with the utmost hatred she could summon.

Amanda smirked and said, " Yes Lily, get over it, he is your partner, and you have to deal with it."

Lily raised her eyebrows at her friend and then replied angrily, " Oh no I won't! Hell no, there is no possible way I will be his partner!"

**-1 Hour Later_-_**

" I cannot believe that I am going to be your partner," Lily said as she followed James, who was leading them rather skillfully to their assigned dormitory, examining the map carefully.

James smiled and said, " Me either, I thought you surely would've killed me by now,"

She made a grunting noise as they began to climb the stairs up to the seventh floor, " It's against the bloody rules to hurt another student, and the least thing I need to add to my horrible life would be to get expelled and have to go back to my bloody parents,"

They turned a corner and went down a small flight of stairs and then walked up to a large red door, James opened it and proceeded to walk through, Lily following close behind.

" And what's so bad about your 'bloody parents'?" he asked, stopping and looking at the map closer, he looked to his right and then to his left and then back at the map.

" Nothing, they just get on my nerves sometimes; all parents do, besides it's none of your business, Potter," she snapped, stopping behind him and waiting for him to continue.

James looked up once more and turned to the right. As they climbed another flight of stairs he replied, " Hey, I was just asking, sorry if I'm curious. You don't need to snap at me, it's not like I arranged us to be partners."

She continued to follow him, walking briskly with her head held high and her arms crossed, she wouldn't be surprised if he had!

After a few moments they walked up to a canvas with a picture of a orange and white striped cat sitting on a red chair on its neck it bore a blue collar with a gold pendant that read, 'Fluffy' , " Hurry up and make a password so I can go back to sleep," Fluffy said stretching, and yawning.

James looked at Lily and shrugged, " Well, what do you want it to be?"

Lily appeared in deep thought when she replied breathlessly and sounding a bit annoyed, " I don't know, what's your favorite food?"

" Chocolate," he replied smiling at her, she had stopped scowling and now was just looking at him as if he was tolerable... barely tolerable.

She looked at the cat and then back at James, as she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, " Well, since yours is chocolate and mine is strawberries then why don't we use, 'Chocolate Covered Strawberries'?"

James raised his eyebrows and shrugged again, " Sounds good to me,"

" So 'Chocolate Covered Strawberries' it is eh?" the cat asked.

" Yes, now will you please let us in?" Lily snapped at Fluffy.

Fluffy narrowed her eyes, waved her tale angrily and hissed, " Fine,"

The canvas swung open and the two walked in, admiring the beauty of their newly acquired common room.

It was a large square room with crimson red walls and golden curtains covering a large sliding glass door which appeared to lead to a balcony of some type. To the left of the glass door was a large oak desk with a matching oak chair, on the right was three ceiling to floor bookshelves filled with assortments of both educational and recreational books. The floor was covered by plush off white carpet that cushioned your feet as you stepped onto it. Directly in front of them was a large oak door and a red love seat facing the glass door. In the middle of the room on the soft carpet was the Gryffindor crest, and on top this crest was a glass table.

Lily was amazed at how extravagant the room was, and just for a month they would be occupying it, it just didn't seem logical enough to build such a nice common room that would be used for only four weeks. She walked towards the oak door and opened it revealing a golden carpeted hallway with crimson red walls to match the common room. She stood at the door way and noticed that straight ahead was a door with a moon emblem, Lily guessed that this was the bathroom. To her left was a red door, and to her right was a gold door, _'These must be our bedrooms, wonder which one is mine'_ Lily thought to herself as she walked over towards the golden door and swung it open.

The room was carpeted with the same soft off white plush carpet, and wall coloring as the common room had. Directly in front of her was a tall red oak four poster bed with a golden quilt covering it, the quilt was shining in the faint light that was escaping the bay window to her right, making it quite clear that it was satin. On the middle of the quilt was a red diamond, and in the center of this red diamond was a golden 'L', obviously stating that this room belonged to Lily, and Lily alone. There were also four equally shiny golden pillows resting at the top of her bed with the same red diamond and golden 'L' emblem on each of them. At the end of her mesmerizing bed was a large chest, probably holding extra pillows and sheets.

She smiled as she ran over to her new found bed flinging her self onto the soft, silky material and inhaling the refreshing smell of just-washed blankets. Grudgingly she lifted herself off of her bed and walked towards her wardrobe, which sat opposite of her bay window. Lily opened the wardrobe's doors and was surprised to see all of her clothes had been already placed there, along with her shoes, socks and, shockingly, her undergarments.

Forgetting about her wardrobe, she turned on her heal and walked to the other side of the room, seating herself at her new desk. Opening the drawers she soon discovered that her extra bottles of ink, many quills, and several scrolls of parchment, were stored safely, and, may I add, very orderly, in separate drawers.

Lily raised her eyebrows in pleasant surprise as she stood up and walked out of her room, returning to the common room, where, to her misfortune, sat James scanning the spines of each of the books that were held by their new bookcases; most likely searching for one on quidditch.

" Have you discovered your room yet, or are you too blindly ignorant to acknowledge the door leading to it?" she asked, smirking, as she sat down on the couch and opened her bag; pulling out her Transfiguration homework.

James rolled his eyes and turned towards her, " Can you, perhaps, try saying something that is at least reasonably _considerate _to me, maybe just once and awhile? And yes, I have discovered my room and the bathroom, as a matter of fact,"

She looked up at him and narrowed her eyes in disgust, " Why in the name of Merlin did we have to be paired together?"

James shrugged and returned to the bookshelf, " Aha! Here it is," he said, more to himself, as he pulled out a thick book with the words: Transfiguration Guide Volume 6: printed neatly on it. " And I believe that we were paired together because of your obvious hatred towards me, sort of like the professors expect this project to make us more... friendly, towards each other; although it is your fault that we don't get along, I've been willing to forget and move on for an entire year." James regretted saying this almost instantly, for Lily slammed her book shut and looked at him with the most disgusted look ever.

" Oh, _really_! It's _my_ fault is it," she said angrily, he had done it this time, he really had. " It's my fault that you set loose a spider in my compartment! It was my fault that you spread a rumor about me and my 'toilet' incident! It was my fault that you ruined my entire first, and second year!" she shouted, standing up and walking over to him, now directly in front of his face. " It was my fault that you turned me completely against you, and forced me to hate you with all of the burning passion that I can summon! It was my fault that now every girl accept Mallory and Amanda, think I am some psychopath freak that goes around using the boys bathroom for no apparent reason? **_I think not!_**" she screamed at the top of her lungs prodding James in the chest with her index finger.

He seemed frozen, shocked at the way she had proved him wrong he had dropped his book onto the table and was opening and shutting his mouth, obviously at a loss for words.

" Yeah, but... but... but... yeah but...-" James faltered

She glared at him again and shouted, " But what? ' But I can't help the fact that I'm an arrogant, unkind, git?' Is that what! Huh!"

James looked at her once beautiful face, that had now turned into a horrifying face, she was hot when angry, but terrifying when she was pissed. He didn't know whether to argue further or to just let it go, knowing James and how his mind sometimes was very blank, he chose the entirely wrong answer.

" No, actually I was going to say, that if you hadn't of punched me in the face on the train than maybe I would've stopped being mean to you!" he shouted, now angry, " But I restrained myself because I knew it would be very rude to say that, after all I was the one who made you do it! And you know what else! Time and time again I have tried to talk to you, I have tried to become friends with you, I have _tried_ to get you alone so I could apologize, but would you listen? Hell no! You are so damn right set on hating me you cannot see that I have changed! As I am now, I would never think of setting loose a spider on you, but I did then and you won't let it go! But I don't care anymore, I give up!" and with that he stormed out of the common room and into his bedroom, slamming his door shut so hard that a small vase slid off of the table and shattered.

Lily stood there in the middle of their new common room shocked and surprised at the same time. Coming out of her trance she sat down on the red couch and put her head in her hands and started to cry. At first it was just a sniffle, but then it began to get louder and louder, until she was sure he would hear, so she decided that she would retreat to her room.

Lily bolted up her door and walked over to her bed, she lied face down and started to sob into the quilts. Suddenly she realized who and what she was crying over, but why was the question. Why did she care that he was mad at her, shouldn't she be happy? Wasn't it her goal to make him leave her alone? Why did she feel regret for turning down his offer to go to Hogsmeade with him? Why did she cry over her worst enemy that she had hated for the past 5 years?

_**Because, you like him. And this time you know I'm right.**_

_Shut up, you only make things worse._

_**So does that mean that you agree with me?**_

_...no... I don't like him._

_**Why are you crying over him then?**_

_B-because he hurt my feelings..._

_**Has anyone ever told you that you can't lie? ... Because you can't. I know you like him.**_

_No I don't and I never will! ... well ... maybe I do... NO I DO NOT LIKE HIM! ... never... never... never..._

_**What's so bad about him anyways? He has changed you know.**_

_Yeah, he has hasn't he?_

_**Yes, and he's cute too.**_

_He is isn't he? ... Oh Merlin, what am I thinking! I do not, DO NOT like James Potter! I am not falling for him!_

_**Yes, you are, fast and hard too.**_

_No no no no no. It isn't possible!_

_**Yes, indeed, it is!**_

_This is insane, after all he has done to me why would I fall for him? Give me a good reason._

_**He loves you.**_

_... er ... okay, erm ... give me another one._

_**He admitted, in a way that he was very sorry for what he had done to you.**_

_Fine name five then! Ha, I know you can't do that._

_**Okay, so 1. He loves you, 2. He admitted in his own way that he was sorry for the pain he has caused you, 3. He is only attracted to one girl, and that one girl knows he will not take anyone but herself, that one girl being you. 4. You have finally realized that you like him back. And 5. You two are destined for each other. **_

_Okay ... so I like do him.. but just a little! A smidgen ... a whole lot... no just a smidgen!_

Lily had stopped crying and was now sitting on the edge of her bed, dabbing her tears away. She grabbed her diary out of her bag and started to write in it;

_September 5th_

_Friday 7:15 P.M._

_Dear Diary,_

_It's amazing how you can hate someone one minute and find yourself deeply caring for them another. I really don't know when it dawned on me, but... I sadly admit that I am falling for James Potter. I swear, no sooner had we moved into this dorm together, my feelings for him had begun to change immensely. We had a huge fight about fifteen minutes ago and now he, I am sure, totally hates me. What am I to do? Should I just go on acting like I hate him? Or should I tell him? Maybe I should just take it slow and go apologize, after all, I did say some pretty nasty things to him that I now regret. Yes, I do believe that's what I shall do._

_A very confused..._

_Lily Evans._

Lily shoved her diary back into her bag and lied back down, she needed to think. What had made her like James all of the sudden? Just an hour ago she wanted him to fall over the nearest cliff, and now she wished that they were friends. Her thoughts were interrupted by a quiet knock on her door.

She took a deep breath, she knew it was him, and walked over to her door. Lily cracked it open and peeked through only to find a very glum-looking James standing a few inches away.

"...Yes?" she asked quietly, almost in a whisper.

" May I come in? Or do you wish to come out?" he asked politely, half smiling.

She gulped down air and nodded, opening the door and allowing him to come in. " Yeah, you can come in,"

He nodded his head in thanks and sat down on her bed, she followed and sat down on the far end of it, trying to stay as far away as possible. Lily was staring at her feet but she noticed him looking at her.

" Well, I'm pretty sure that you don't want to talk to me right now," he began giving a fake laugh. Lily ignored it and continued to look at her feet. " If you didn't hate me before then I'm sure you do now," with that Lily snorted accidently and then coughed to cover it up. " But, I just thought that I should come in here and say I'm sorry. You were completely right, It was my fault. I should have never even thought of doing something like that to you. And I really am sorry for ruining half of your school years here."

She shook her head and looked up at him, finally meeting his eyes, which were very dull and tired-looking. " No, I wasn't right, it wasn't all your fault, after all I do hold grudges. And I don't hate you, I'm very sorry that you think I do though, I was sure you'd hate me by now." She noticed a certain spark light up his eyes. " I'm sorry too, ... for the ass I have been for the past two years."

James smiled at her and shook his head slightly, " It's fine, you had a reason to be," he extended his hand to her and continued, " friends then?"

Lily smiled back and took it, feeling his firm hand grasp her own and a wave of excitement and happiness overwhelm her, " Friends,"

**A/N: Hmm, it seems that fights actually help relationships rather than make them worse, doesn't it? Ha ha ha. Well, I sure hope you enjoyed this! They will be receiving their seed for the project in the next chapter. Please please review! Thank you so much!**

**Lissy**


	4. A Friendship Blooms

**A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews guys! Once again, sorry that I'm such a slow updater, lol, I really am trying. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's a bit boring but oh well...**

**Chapter 4**

**A Friendship Blooms**

_'Wow, Lily Evans actually took my offer to be friends,'_ James thought to himself, as he continued to shake her hand.

Lily started to blush as she cleared her throat and stood up, " Well, I think I might go to bed now, I'm awfully tired,"

He stood up also and started to walk out of the room, but just as he opened the door a thought ran into his head... yes it might just work, " Hey, um, well, now that we have settled our differences and everything... well I know I've already asked two times but, do you happen to want to go to Hogsmeade with me? Just as friends you know, since-" but he was interrupted by Lily.

She smiled and nodded, " Yeah, I think that would be a good idea, so we can get to know each other,"

James beamed, _'YES!' _ he thought triumphantly, " Great, so how does 2 o'clock sound?"

Lily nodded again, " Just fine," she replied.

" Okay then, goodnight,"

" Night,"

With that he closed her door and went across the hallway into his own room. As soon as the sleepy teenager's head had hit the pillows he was out.

**Xxxxx**

" She said yes? She really said yes?" Sirius asked the next day at breakfast. Lily still hadn't arrived so James had decided to tell Sirius and Remus about the night before.

" Yes, Padfoot, yes, I have told you the story three times already," James said, stabbing his sausage annoyingly.

" Well, actually I'm not surprised," Remus said, catching everyone off guard. " It's kind of obvious that she likes you back. The first stage is denial you know,"

James laughed and then stopped immediately, Remus was being serious he had thought he was joking, " You're kidding right?"

Remus shook his head, " No, not at all, I've seen her, she watches you,"

Sirius snorted, and shot his milk out of his nose, " Yeah, she plans multiple ways to kill him,"

" Well, I think she just doesn't want to believe that she has feelings for you," Remus suggested persistently.

" I wish," James laughed.

" Oh look who it is, Hullo." Sirius said waving his wand and making the milk disappear, as Lily seated herself across from the three men.

" Hey, guys, how are you?" she said cheerfully as she filled her plate, her emerald eyes sparkling with happiness.

James smiled, she seemed to be in a good mood this morning, " Good," they replied.

" Have you three seen Mallory or Amanda this morning?" Lily asked filling her goblet with pumpkin juice.

" Amanda came to me and Mallory's dorm earlier, she said that she would be back by breakfast," Sirius said, as he took a drink of his milk and shoved a piece of toast in his mouth.

" Oh, okay then,I went to both of your dorms and no one was there." Lily said furrowing her brow, " I wonder why they didn't come and pick me up too, I needed to talk to them about something,"

Just as Lily said that Mallory and Amanda stepped into the Great Hall, they ran over to the table and seated themselves on either side of Lily.

" Hey Lils, sorry we're late, we had to go do something," Mallory said stabbing her pancakes and shoving them into her mouth.

" Yeah, we didn't want to come and get you because we figured you were still sleeping." Amanda commented unconvincingly.

Lily knew this was a lie, but she didn't worry about it too much, " Oh, alright, well after breakfast I want to talk to you guys about something so would you like to come back to my dorm later?"

Mallory looked at Amanda curiously but then nodded, " Yeah,... sure... ," she said slowly.

Lily smiled and reassuringly stated, " Don't worry, I'm not pregnant or anything,"

This immediately lightened the mood because Amanda and Mallory both started to giggle like mad, but the guys just looked at each other and shrugged. " Must be a girl thing," Remus mumbled to James, who started laughing and then nodded in agreement.

" Well, ladies James, Remus and I are going to head off to the library. We'll talk to you later," Sirius said, sending a wink at Mallory who started choking on her biscuit.

" Okay, bye," Lily replied, saving Mallory of the chore to talk since she was already having a problem with swallowing, the biscuit had shot out of her mouth and landed on her bag.

Lily cringed " You know," she started after the guys had left, " you really need to control yourself when he is around,"

" Be quite Lily, at least I am not in denial about who I like," Mallory shot back at her angrily.

" Calm down Mal, I was kidding. And I am _not_ in denial!"

" Well, what do you call it then? I don't see why you can't just accept the fact that you like him too," Amanda said slyly, smirking at Lily.

Lily bent down and helped Mallory clean off her bag so that they didn't see her blush, " I am not in denial I have nothing to accept," _'Anymore that is, I used to be in denial,' _ she thought smiling.

" Sure whatever," Mallory said as she waved her wand and made the jelly that had dripped onto her shirt disappear.

" Shall we go to my dorm now?" Lily asked about a half hour later, standing up and slinging her bag onto her shoulder.

" Yeah, I suppose," Amanda replied.

Mallory nodded " Okay,"

They all walked in silence, following Lily who was reading the map that James had previously read as he led Lily and himself to their dormitory just the day before. When they had came upon the cat it hissed and growled, " Oh, it's _you_, you dreadful little thing, say the password so that I can get back to my beauty sleep,"

Mallory and Amanda started cracking up at the cat who had so much anger built up in its little body that they figured it would explode.

" I see you're a bit feisty today, eh?" Lily started, only to get an evil glare thrown at her by Fluffy, " Alright, alright, 'Chocolate Covered Strawberries'," she said .

Fluffy gave one last evil look at then the canvas flung open and slammed into the wall.

" Wow, Lils, what did you _do_ to that cat?" Mallory asked as she sat down on the love seat.

Lily giggled and seated herself on another chair that was beside the door they had just came in through." Well, I was a bit rude with it the other day," she said

Amanda sat down beside Mallory and said" I guess, the cat looked so innocent until it woke up. I would've thought it was a nice little kitty.. guess not!"

" Yeah," Amanda started, snorting with laughter, " I guess Fluffy doesn't exactly live up to it's name,"

They all laughed at this, Fluffy did, indeed, did not live up to it's name in the least.

Mallory grinned widely at Lily and asked, " So, what did you need to tell us?"

" Yeah, I'm dying to know," Amanda added.

Lily smiled and then thought about what she was going to tell them, " Well, I'm going with James to Hogsmeade later." the girls gasped and Amanda stood up and did a sort of victory dance.

" I told you so, I told you so! I was right, you were wrong! Hahaha!" Amanda shouted triumphantly.

Lily rolled her eyes and sighed, _' I knew she would do that, now to bust her bubble'_

" So that means that you do like him then, right?" Mallory asked, pulling at the back of Amanda's shirt, which made her sit down, most regretfully.

" No, well, not in the way your thinking. We're going as friends, - just friends," she added noticing the look of disbelief on their faces. " You see, last night we had a huge fight, and ... well I realized that it was as much my fault as it was his that we weren't friends. So, later, when he came into my room to apologize, I apologized as well.. we shook hands and said that we'd be friends, and now, well here I am. I just can't believe I have befriended James Potter, It's a little weird, after hating him for so long you know."

" Yeah, wow, I can't believe it, after all of these years of trying to tell you that you should be friends, it was him to change your mind after all... unbelievable." Mallory said gazing off into space and shaking her head.

" So, you mean, you _don't _like him that way?" Amanda said looking very disappointed.

Lily giggled and nodded, " Yep, sorry Mandy, we're just friends. That's how I want it to stay."

" Darn," she muttered under her breath.

Mallory smiled and shrugged, " Well, at least you don't hate each other anymore!"

" Yeah, I guess," Lily said.

She stood up and walked over to the glass door, staring out into the bright morning sky, think about what she had just said. _ 'Yep, sorry Mandy we're just friends. That's how I want it to stay'_ what she had said was not necessarily true, she didn't want it to stay that way, but the, Lily Evans, would not let anyone know that.

" Some place you got here, Lils, mine's nothing like this," Mallory said, absentmindedly running her fingers along the spines of the book shelves.

" Yeah, we don't have a balcony, or a desk in our common room." Amanda agreed.

Lily furrowed her brow as she turned to face them, " Really? You mean, my common room _is_ nicer than yours?"

" Yep," Mallory stated.

" But why would Dumbledore be doing something like that, shouldn't everyone's be the same?"

" Dunno, it is kind of weird isn't it?"Amanda said as she walked over to the door leading to the hallway and opened it

Lily nodded," Yeah," It was _really_ weird. Why would James and Lily have a nicer common room, she had to talk to Dumbledore about this.

" Which one's your door, Lils?" Mallory asked, joining Amanda in the hallway.

Lily walked over to them and pointed at her door, " The gold one,"

They opened the door and then gasped, " Silk!" " A window seat?" " Another desk!" they exclaimed.

" Yeah, don't you have them too?"

Mallory shook her head vigorously, " No! My bed is a four poster too, but I don't have _silk_ quilts and pillows with it! And, oh my gosh, you have your initials on your quilt and pillows! _I_ don't have _my_ initials on my quilts and pillows!"

" Yeah me either! This is so unfair, there better be a very good explanation behind all of this!"

Lily smiled, " Well, then, since you seem to like my dormitory so much we are going to have to have a slumber party sometime, maybe next Friday?"

" Oh yes, that would be great. What'd you think Mandy."

She smiled and nodded, " Sounds wonderful," she replied.

Lily smiled, " Good, next Friday it is then!"

Amanda happened to notice the clock on her nightstand and instinctively read it.

" Oh merlin, Mallory, we we're supposed to meet Sirius and Remus in the library at 12 o'clock and its 12:30 right now!" Amanda said, staring wide-eyed at her friend.

" Oh no! Sorry Lils but we have to go, I'll talk to you later!"

" Yeah, we'll meet you at Hogs Head later!"

Lily shook her head and waved at them, " Okay, have fun, see you then!" But they didn't hear because they had already ran out of the room and slammed the common room door shut.

Being all alone, she figured she might as well pick out what she was going to where for their Hogsmeade date... outing.

Lily flipped through her shirts, skirts, jeans, and halters but found nothing that was really flattering, so she went over to her bag and pulled out her favorite fashion magazine and started flipping through it. After a few minutes she found a crimson halter top that tied around the neck and a pair of boot cut jeans, she also picked out a pair of red sandals to match.

She raised her wand and conjured the items from the magazine and placed them on her bed. Since she still had two hours until the date.. outing started she decided to go down to the Great Hall and grab some lunch.

Lily walked out of the dormitory and continued down the long hall, Fluffy mumbling and hissing behind her the entire way. When she finally reached the main corridor she looked around, usually the halls were filled with people, it was weird to be out on a Saturday, everything seemed so out of place.

" Hey Lily," someone said, breaking her train of thought. She looked around and came to face none other than James.

She smiled, " Hi, what are you doing out here? I thought you and the guys went to the library."

He rolled his eyes in disgust and shrugged, " Well, we did, but then Mallory and Amanda came into the library and the guys asked me to leave. I thought you and the girls were going back to our dorm."

" We... did...," she said slowly, what were they up to? Were they trying to make she and James spend time together purposely? " But they left about ten minutes ago, said they had to meet up with Sirius and Remus."

James furrowed his brow, " Hm, that's weird. Oh well, hey are you hungry? I was going to go back to our dorms and see if you wanted to get some lunch with me, but I found you here."

" Yeah sure, that'd be great, I was going back to the Great Hall to get some lunch anyway." she said smiling again, as they started to walk back to the Great Hall.

**Xxxxx**

" Wow, I'm stuffed," James said as he finished his lunch and pushed the plate back, his face starting to get very green.

" Yeah, same here," she replied laughing at James who looked like he was ready to throw up everything he had just eaten.

He smiled and then laughed," Ugg, I really need to learn when I'm full, don't I?"

Lily just looked at him, shook her head and then started laughing again, " Maybe just a little,"

" So, do you want to head off to Hogsmeade now?" he asked.

She nodded," Yeah, but would you mind stopping back at the dorms first, I would like to get out of these clothes."

James stood up and shrugged, " Fine with me, let's go then,"

She stood up and walked towards the door James following. When they reached the dorms a few minutes later they went into their rooms and began to get ready.

Lily headed to the bathroom to take a shower and when she entered she stood in shock. The bathroom was as extravagant as the common room had been. There was white diamond-shaped tiling on the floor and the walls were covered with a rich blue paint that made the room seem much bigger than it actually was. In front of her was a shower with a frosted sliding glass door and to the right of the shower was a bathtub.

And this wasn't just any bathtub, it was more like a mini swimming pool, there were three steps leading into it. The edges of the tub were surrounded with taps that each poured out a different fragrance of bubble bath. There was also a handle bar near the steps, Lily being the curious teen that she was pulled on it. She found that it was a lid, a lid to a towel warmer. Steam poured out of the towel warmer and swirled all the way to the ceiling.

She closed the towel warmer and turned around, now she was face to face with a mirror that covered the entire left side of the wall. There also was a large marble counter top with drawers and a round off-white sink in the middle.

Once Lily had finally came out of her trance she stripped down and took a quick shower. When she finished she grabbed a towel out of the towel warmer and rapped herself in it. She went over to the sink and grabbed her wand, lifting it to her head she murmured a spell and her hair suddenly dried.

Lily walked into her room and started to get dressed, she walked over to her bed and changed into her new outfit, that had just recently became her favorite outfit. She went over to her mirror and admired how the shirt seemed to make her stomach look much slimmer and how it managed to enhance her chest at the same time. Lily smiled in satisfaction and walked into the bathroom, taking care to knock before entering; walking in on James wouldn't exactly be the best thing to do.

She stood in front of the mirror, wand in hand, wondering all the time about how she was supposed to do her hair. After a few minutes of 'conscious debating' she lifted her wand and waved it around her head twice. Her hair stood straight up on her head for a few seconds and then started swirling around; once her hair finished this little 'dance' it looked beautiful. Her hair was slightly curled and fell to her mid back, her bangs were pulled to the side with her favorite heart-shaped diamond clip.

Lily decided that since it was just a little 'outing' that they were going on, that it probably wouldn't be the best idea to load on a bunch of make up. Instead she applied clear lip gloss and and put on light mascara.

Lily smiled again, she looked great; she wasn't too dressy, nor was she under dressed. She went back into her room stuck her wand in her pocket, grabbed her purse and walked out of her room.

When she walked into the common room she found James sitting in the chair next to the door reading the Daily Prophet.

She cleared her throat and he flinched, he peaked around the paper and when he saw her he stood up and started to fold the paper up hastily.

" Oh your ready, you look very nice," he said in a gentlemanly manner.

She smiled and cleared her throat again trying not to blush. " Thanks, you look nice too," That was a lie, he looked better than nice, she had never really seen him out of his uniform. He had on a simple blue polo shirt with worn in jeans and tennis shoes, but what really completed his look was his ruffled hair and sparkling chocolate eyes that seemed to suck her in.

_'Oh merlin, quit thinking these things' _ she scolded herself, shaking her head.

" An owl came from Professor sprout, she sent us the seed and a letter explaining the potions that we'll need to make for it ," James said as he slipped on a thin jacket and handed Lily her's.

" Oh okay, did the potions look as complicated as Professor McClerk made them out to be?"she asked as they exited the common room and headed down the corridor.

He shrugged, " Kind of, I mean they didn't look too awfully bad, I think McClerk, may have wanted to scare us a little. The hardest thing out of it all would be the fact that we have to make a different potion every week, and you know what else?"

" No, what?"

" Remember how he said that the project would be for the rest of the month?"

She cocked her head in confusion, " Yeah."

" Well," he laughed " on the paper it said something entirely different. It said that the project will be continuing through the rest of the year, we have to turn in the plant the week before we leave,"

She looked at him with bulging eyes, " Your kidding,"

" No, I'm dead serious."

" We should probably go to Dumbledore and ask him what's going on. Obviously neither of the professors do."

James laughed, " Yeah that'd probably be a wise decision,"

They continued to chat until they reached Hogsmeade, once there they met up with Amanda, Mallory, Sirius and Remus. The five of them had a very good time and were all completely exhausted when they arrived back at their dorms.

Lily said good night to James, and went straight to her room. She changed into her Pj's, grabbed her diary, got under the covers and started to scribble in the little pink book.

_September 6th_

_Saturday 9:47 P.M._

_Dear Diary,_

_Yesterday, as you know, James and I had that huge fight, and I was sure he'd never speak a word to me again. But just after I had finished writing in here he knocked on my door, came in here and apologized! Can you believe that? Of course not.. your a little pink book, anyway... we shook hands and decided to be friends. And then he did something totally unexpected. For the third time that day, merlin he is so gutsy, he asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him. I thought about it for a minute and decided that it would be a good idea to get to know him. So today we left at about half past two and met up with the girls , Sirius and Remus in Hogs Head. We had a great time, first the girls and I went off shopping for clothes and such while the guys went to Zonkos. We also went by the Three Broomsticks and the Sweet Shop, and I never realized how funny James was, I don't think I've laughed this much since Petunia fell down the stairs back home and busted her nose. Ha ha that was truly a classic!_

_Anyway, when we got back I went to my room and sent an owl to Pr. Dumbledore asking him about how long we are supposed to be doing this project; the other nutty Professors obviously don't have a clue. After I did that I read the letter we received earlier from Pr. Sprout, it said that we had to have the seed planted in a pot and have the first potion made and fed to it by this Friday. I think I'll start brewing the potions ahead of time, that way if something comes up I don't have to worry about getting the potions to the stupid plant late and failing this whole project._

_Well I think it'd be wise for me to go to sleep now, I'm so tired._

_Yours Always,_

_Lily Evans_

Lily closed her diary, waved her wand, and her diary went soaring through the air, landing quietly and safely in the depths of her bag. She turned over and within a matter of seconds the warmth of her bed had enveloped her in a deep sleep.

**A/N: Well, not much to this chapter, really kind of pointless, oh well. I hope you liked it anyway! I worked very hard on it! Thanks for reading, now do me a favor and click on that little button below that says 'Go' and then type your thoughts about my story and/or chapter, it really isn't hard! I would really appreciate your thoughts! Thanks again, **

**Luv you all!**

**Lissy**


	5. The Discovered Diary

**A/N: Thanks to all of my lovely reviewers! You all are great! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love reviews sooo much! Please read and review this chapter as well, I think you might like this one!**

**Chapter 5**

**The Discovered Diary**

Lily awoke Sunday morning and went straight to the showers, she didn't even think to knock, which could've led to something bad; thankfully no one was in there. After she had taken her shower she brushed her teeth and dried her hair magically. She was still a bit groggy but she had to get dressed, so she went over to her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of jeans and a pink tank top, not really caring what she was planning to wear.

She threw on her outfit and brushed her hair a few times letting it fall down her back in crimson waves. Lily applied mascara, picked up her bag and went into the common room to begin brewing the potions for that month.

She tossed her bag into the chair next to the door and sat down on the couch in front of the coffee table. Waving her wand, the letter that Professor Sprout had sent them now laying on the table. She opened the letter and pulled out a large packet, flipping through it she found the potion that would be needed for the first month of the project. Lily waved her wand again and now sitting on the table was a cauldron, a spoon, and all of the ingredients that were on the list.

Lily sighed and then began to add things into the cauldron. First she added five Lacewing Flies and measured out the right amount of Ginger Roots, once that began to simmer she was supposed to chop up four Porcupine Quills and add them to her cauldron. When all of those ingredients were added she began stirring, three times clockwise, four times counter-clockwise, after she had done this twenty times the potion turned bright red, telling her that she was half way done.

She read over the next few instructions ( Wait until the potion begins turning gold; once there add Lionfish Spine and slice fresh Dragon Liver in half, make sure to add the right half and not the left! ) she decided that if she added a Horned Toad and then waited for it to turn gold she wouldn't have to add Dragon Liver to the potion, which was what she had just ran out of. Sure enough she was right, according to the instructions she was finished, but by the looks of it she figured that it was in need of a few more stirs, once again she was correct.

Lily wiped her hands off and said aloud, " There, now that wasn't too bad,"

She pulled out four vials and filled them to the brim with the potion that she had just successfully brewed. That would last her for the first month of the project, by the directions, she was supposed to give a potion to the plant every week. The directions also stated that you were supposed to pick one day out of the week that you would feed the plant, and that day would be the marker of every time you had to give the potion to the plant. Lily figured that Sunday would be fine, but she decided that she would wait and ask James what day he wanted when he got up. It was only eight o'clock so he wasn't expected to wake up for another hour or two... maybe three... or four.

Lily picked up the vials and put them in one of the drawers in the desk by the glass door, that way they would be safe from being broken or lost. With a mere flick of the wrist all of the evidence that she had just been brewing a potion disappear completely.

Now that, that was out of the way she decided that working on her Transfiguration report, which was due the following day, would be a good thing to get out of the way.

Forty-five minutes later she placed her Transfiguration book, and now finished report into her bag. Lily looked at the clock above the glass doors and saw it was almost nine o'clock, she conjured a cappuccino and walked out onto the balcony for the first time.

When she opened the door she realized that it was more like a deck than a balcony, to her right was a lounging chair and to her left was another lounging chair to match, and there was a beautiful banister going all the way around the large balcony. Beside each chair was a small side table.

She walked up to the banister and looked out over the beautiful landscape. The grass sparkled emerald green with dew from the morning and the lake might have usually been dingy and black but this morning it looked more like a deep shimmering blue. The horizon was lined with trees but right in the middle of all the trees there was a gap where the sun was just rising, making the sky bright colors of pink and purple, gradually getting darker.

Lily smiled what could be better than this? She knew from that moment on that this would be her favorite spot, well at least for her sixth year. She stood there for awhile sipping her cappuccino and enjoying the fresh air when the door behind her creaked open and James joined her at the banister.

" Good morning," she said conjuring him a cappuccino as well.

He took it gratefully from her and smiled, " Morning to you as well, it's beautiful out here isn't it?"

" Yes, it's very..."

" Calming?"

She smiled and nodded, " Exactly, so did you just get up?"

James shook his head, " No, I got a shower and cleaned up my room, and finished my Transfiguration homework, so I've been up since probably.. Oh I dunno eight thirty."

" Oh, I got up about an hour ago, and I brewed the potion needed for this month. Then I finished up my Transfiguration report as well and decided to come out here and check out this balcony,"

" Oh, sorry, I didn't know you brewed the potion, I figured we could do that together, I didn't want to make you do all the work," He said looking up at the sky.

Lily looked at him admiringly and thought _'What a gentleman, always putting me in front of himself... wait what are you thinking, just friends Lily! Just friends!' _

" It's fine, it only took me about ten minutes,"

James was shocked at this, she was great at potions,.. he wasn't particularly good at anything but Quidditch, " Wow, really?"

Lily nodded, " Yep, but it took me forty-five minutes to finish that bloody report, McGonagall's absolutely killing me!"

" Yeah, I know what you mean, took me about a half hour," he said chuckling

Suddenly Lily spotted something red flying through the sky, as it got nearer she recognized it as Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix.

James looked at the speck of red oddly and then asked," Hey, is that Fawkes?"

Lily nodded, " Yes," she said, " I think it is,"

A few minutes later their thoughts were confirmed as the beautiful bird swooped down onto James arm and opened it's beak letting a letter from Dumbledore fall into the hands of Lily. Lily gave the bird a pat on the head, as a sign of thanks, and it flew off back in the direction of where it had come from moments before.

She opened the letter and read it aloud;

"_Dear Miss Evans,_

_I apologize for the confusion among the other teachers, it seems that Professor McClerk, being new and all, has gotten a forth year project mixed up with your sixth year project. This project will be going throughout your sixth year and the due date will be the week before you depart for your homes. I am very sorry for the confusion, once again, enjoy your weekend,_

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore,"_

Lily folded the letter and sighed, " Well, that explains a lot,"

" Yep," said James.

" Well, I'm starving, I'm going to go to breakfast, this cappuccino isn't holding me off much." she said turning on her heal and heading towards the door, " Do you want to come too?" she asked as a second thought.

He turned around and shrugged, " Yeah, might as well I'm so bloody hungry, I would be down there about five minutes after you arrived anyway," he gave her the knee buckling smile that just about melted her right there. She wished he would stop doing that, it made her have to keep telling herself that she liked him as a friend and only as a friend.

She giggled and walked back into the common room, waving her wand again she and James' cups vanished and they set off towards the Great Hall.

" Oh and about that project," said Lily, as they turned a right and walked into the crowded Great Hall, " we have to set a date that we will be able to feed the plate faithfully every week, I thought Sundays would be okay, but I have to ask you too of course."

" Sunday's fine," said James, sitting besides Sirius.

" Hey you two," Mallory said patting the seat next to her, " How are you guys doing?"

" We're good," said James, smiling at her and looking around for Amanda, " Where's Amanda?" he and Lily asked at just about the same time.

Mallory giggled girlishly and shrugged, " They must still be in their dorm, I'm guessing that they like to spend time together, I mean... now that they are, you know dating,"

" What!" said Lily and James in unison.

Sirius chuckled and then slapped James on the back, " Yeah, don't you think it's about time they get together?"

Lily looked at Sirius and laughed, " Um, no, I didn't know they even liked each other, I think its about time you two get together actually,"

This obviously hit a nerve because Mallory kicked Lily and then started blushing furiously and Sirius seemed to get mad, " Well, I think its bloody well time for you two to get together," said Sirius referring to she and James.

James threw his head back and laughed, " Yeah, right, Padfoot, like that would ever happen!"

Lily glared at him evilly, " What is _that_ supposed to mean!"

Sirius smirked, " Oho! Ickle Lilikins has a crush on Jamesie!" Lily glared at him and he instantly shut up.

James started stuttering heavily, " Uh-um-er well, I... - hey why do you even care?" he asked finally noting that whenever he said something like that before Lily would most likely agree.

She looked at him and gave him a sarcastic smile, " You, Potter, are such an arse!" said Lily, now standing up, Mallory grabbed her arm and gently tugged on it but she was only to find that Lily had jerked her hand away again.

" Oh! So we're back to last names are we!" shouted James angrily.

Lily shook her head and narrowed her eyes, " You git, we were never at first names!" she hissed.

" I cannot believe you! Why are you even acting like this! I did nothing, absolutely _nothing_!" James asked angrily.

Lily stood there for a moment and thought, _why was she mad?_, that was the question, _was it because he had said that they could never be together? Or was it that he insinuated she would never accept?_, it was neither, she was just deeply hurt by his comment and she had spoken out her thoughts by mistake. **_' You truly are a royal idiot, Lily, you truly are! How are you going to get yourself out of this one, he's going to find out that you like him either way!'_**

She shook her head and looked at him, tears brimming her emerald orbs, he had hurt her feelings, that was it. Nothing more nor less, but she couldn't say that. People were now looking at the two who had been screaming at each other just moments before. She had to get out of here, and fast, she could _not_ cry in front of James Potter, the man whom she had just realized she loved as much as he did her.

Lily picked up her bag and ran out of the Great Hall, silent tears cascading down her porcelain cheeks, she could not believe that he had said that! Did that mean that he felt no feelings towards her anymore? Or did it only mean that he had thought that she only wanted to be friends? No one knew, and no one would find out for then.

She ran up to the canvas and wailed out the password, Fluffy looked at her curiously and then it opened up. Lily flung her bag into the chair and threw herself onto the couch, crying heavily, she could never talk to him again, she was too embarrassed now.

**-THREE MONTHS LATER-**

It was now the snowy month of December, Christmas nearing by each waking day, it was now the fifteenth. Lily and James had not spoken to each other, or at least, Lily had not spoken to him and tried to avoid him at all costs, for the past three months. There were a few times when James had caught up to her and asked her why she was avoiding him, but Lily had simply shrugged him off and went back to her room to " Study for the up coming exams." She had decided to go home over the winter holidays and had proceeded to owl her mum and dad to see if that would be alright. But her mum, dad, and her putrid sister Petunia had went off to Rome to visit her cousins.

Lily had planted their seed for the project three months before. She and James had not missed a single feeding so it was now about two feet tall and had a very small light blue flower that was beginning to bloom. Lily was quite please with it's progress and its color, which of course, was a sure sign for them to ace the project. James had went ahead and made the potions for the remaining part of the project which made it much easier to ensure that the plant would get fed regularly.

Lily was standing alone on the balcony, rapped up in a coat, two scarves, mittens, a toboggan, and boots sipping a cappuccino, while the rest of her friends had gone off to Hogsmeade. Amanda had gone with Remus, they were officially a three-month couple now, Mallory had gone with Sirius, who had just started dating a week before, and James remained in his room, sleeping. Lily hoped that he would not wake up and come looking for her, so she had came out here. She had figured that he wouldn't want to come out into the cold, but she was enjoying it quite a bit.

She looked over the snowy landscape and giggled as she watched a couple of seventh years bewitch 20 or so snowballs to attack Severus Snape repeatedly. Severus was running as fast as possible in all directions, squealing like a little girl with his arms over his head, falling and slipping every few seconds.

Then there were the people that were on the lake ice skating. Now this was truly a treat, Lily had actually started snorting as she watched these gits try to skate. There were a few choice second years that she found highly entertaining. They would go about three feet and then land flat on their faces, then their friends would come over to help them up, but unfortunately their friends were usually worse than them. In the end they would all end up falling, slipping and doing the splits quite often. One kid had actually lost control so badly that he had skated all the way into a tree, the whole time flinging his arms around like mad and screaming.

Lily was just thinking about how she would love to go skating when the door to the balcony swung open. She could hear each step crunch into the freshly fallen snow behind her. She closed her eyes and hoped it was a walking couch rather than James.

" Oh, there you are," said James sounding very tired, " I've been looking all over for you,"

Lily sighed and turned around, " I was just getting ready to go take a nap," with that she walked back into the common room, took off all of her winter gear and hung it on the coat rack. But she wasn't going to get off that easily.

James stormed into the large room, looking very angry, " What the bloody hell is wrong with you, Evans!"

She had her back facing him as he said this, she winced at the sound of her last name and turned looking at him with false anger, " What do you mean, 'What's wrong with me'? There's nothing wrong with me,"

He sighed heavily and continued yelling as he pulled off his coat and scarves, " All you seem to do is run from me! I'm not poisonous you know!"

Lily didn't reply she just sat down on the couch and looked up at him hopelessly, here goes nothing, she was ready for it to all spill out.

" I know," she said looking down at her feet and failing to even act the least bit sad. She missed him, even though they were never together, when they were friends he was like a sense of protection. Lily knew that with James around, nothing, would ever happen to her.

Seeing Lily like this made James' heart feel as if it had been dropped into a active volcano, which made his voice soften a bit as he pressured on, " Why have you been avoiding me? What did I do?" he sat down and waited for her response.

Lily looked up at him and said nothing, she then let her head drop and fall into her hands. What was she supposed to say? Should she just tell him?

No, that was the answer, no. She had to get out of here! So, once again she stood up and ran out of the room, knocking over the chair by the door and her bag that was sitting on it, making all of the contents fall out as well. She wasn't sure of where to go, but she soon decided that Hogsmeade would be a wise decision, away from him.

**Xxxxx**

" What the hell!" he shouted aloud after Lily had ran out of there, " Why does she always do this?"

He got up to follow her, but decided against it and figured that staying here would be better. James then noticed that Lily's books, quills, parchment, .. etc. had been scattered all over the floor, so, being the gentleman he was, he bent down and started to collect the items and put them back into the bag when he noticed that one of her books was open.

James closed it but couldn't help but see that printed in Lily's neat hand writing on the cover were two words... "_My Diary_," he stopped dead in his tracks. She was already mad at him... what would it hurt to read a bit out of it.. I mean she did leave it laying out carelessly... James opened the book and turned to the first page...

A/N: He, he, he, James is gonna find out quite a bit about Lily in the next chapter now isn't he? Please Review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it was really short!


	6. Just Say It!

**A/N: Okay, this is like a totally pointless chapter lol, but oh well, we had to have him read it didn't we? Well anyway, soon it will be summer and Lily will be back at her home with.. dun dun dun.. Petunia ( crowd boos at the sound of her name ). But soon summer will be over, and everyone knows what happens next! School time baby!**

**Okay, Okay, now to the point, I hope you enjoy this chapter. PLEASE read and review.. but mainly REVIEW, even if you DON'T like it, I need some feed back. Constructive criticism is welcomed, even flames, but you better have a good reason to flame me if you do! Alrighty then, have fun! **

**A/N 2: Oh and before I forget, even though I put in some diary entries that you've already read before, make sure you read them again to get the full effect of the chapter, otherwise you'll be done reading in five seconds.. oh one other thing, sorry it was so short but I figured I would have it short this time but update sooner.. ok now...**

**Read on...**

**Chapter 6**

**Just Say It!**

**Recap:**

He got up to follow her, but decided against it and figured that staying here would be better. James then noticed that Lily's books, quills, parchment, .. etc. had been scattered all over the floor, so, being the gentleman he was, he bent down and started to collect the items and put them back into the bag when he noticed that one of her books was open.

James closed it but couldn't help but see that printed in Lily's neat hand writing on the cover were two words... "_My Diary_," he stopped dead in his tracks. She was already mad at him... what would it hurt to read a bit out of it.. I mean she did leave it laying out carelessly... James opened the book and turned to the first page...

**End of Recap:**

Just as he started to read the first entry he realized that if Lily came in and saw this happening more than bat boogey hexes would be thrown in his direction so he shut the book again and placed it in his pocket. Then he put the rest of Lily's things back into her bag and set the chair up again, James then ran off to his room and locked his door.

He walked over to his desk and sat down, opening the diary and started to read:

"_September 5th_

_Friday, 12:30 noon_

_Dear Diary,_

_You know what? I am sick and tired of this. No matter what I do I cannot convince anyone that I don't like James, today it happened again. Mallory, Amanda and I were talking and once again they were trying to convince me to let them set James and I up. I don't know what I have to do to get it through everyone's head that I HATE HIM I do not like him in ANY possible way!_

_James asked me to Hogsmeade AGAIN today and I told him no... don't I always? Everyone is always at my throat telling me that we are "meant for each other" sure... they are mental I tell you, mental! How could James and I possibly be meant for each other? There are a million differences between us! Look here, I will even list them:_

_I am the smartest witch of our age._

_James cannot even get a D in Charms._

_I am quiet and am always obeying the rules and my elders._

_James is loud, annoying, obnoxious, rude, and always gets into trouble! Always trying to impress me._

_I hate him._

_He loves me._

_My hobbies are, reading, writing, singing, studying, talking, and shopping._

_His hobbies are, Quidditch, pestering Severus, getting into trouble, flirting with me, and driving me insane!_

_You see we have nothing in common, I don't know why he doesn't just give up!_

_Well, lunch is almost over, I think I better head off to Charms class._

_Note to self: Make sure to get the **Transfiguration essay done by Monday!**_

_Lily Evans_"

James winced at all of the cut-downs she had listed in this entry, but was eager to read more so he flipped to the next page. What his eyes fell on this time made him feel a bit better:

"_September 5th_

_Friday 7:15 P.M._

_Dear Diary,_

_It's amazing how you can hate someone one minute and find yourself deeply caring for them another. I really don't know when it dawned on me, but... I sadly admit that I am falling for James Potter. I swear, no sooner had we moved into this dorm together, my feelings for him had begun to change immensely. We had a huge fight about fifteen minutes ago and now he, I am sure, totally hates me. What am I to do? Should I just go on acting like I hate him? Or should I tell him? Maybe I should just take it slow and go apologize, after all, I did say some pretty nasty things to him that I now regret. Yes, I do believe that's what I shall do._

_A very confused..._

_Lily Evans._"

James grinned, so Lily Evans did have feelings for him! He was overjoyed by this, he was so happy, as a matter of fact, that he felt that doing a little jig in front of the school wouldn't be the least bit embarrassing. James turned the page again and started to read.

"_September 6th_

_Saturday 9:47 P.M._

_Dear Diary,_

_Yesterday, as you know, James and I had that huge fight, and I was sure he'd never speak a word to me again. But just after I had finished writing in here he knocked on my door, came in here and apologized! Can you believe that? Of course not.. your a little pink book, anyway... we shook hands and decided to be friends. And then he did something totally unexpected. For the third time that day, merlin he is so gutsy, he asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him. I thought about it for a minute and decided that it would be a good idea to get to know him. So today we left at about half past two and met up with the girls , Sirius and Remus in Hogs Head. We had a great time, first the girls and I went off shopping for clothes and such while the guys went to Zonkos. We also went by the Three Broomsticks and the Sweet Shop, and I never realized how funny James was, I don't think I've laughed this much since Petunia fell down the stairs back home and busted her nose. Ha ha that was truly a classic!_ **( At this James smiled and started laughing )**

_Anyway, when we got back I went to my room and sent an owl to Pr. Dumbledore asking him about how long we are supposed to be doing this project; the other nutty Professors obviously don't have a clue. After I did that I read the letter we received earlier from Pr. Sprout, it said that we had to have the seed planted in a pot and have the first potion made and fed to it by this Friday. I think I'll start brewing the potions ahead of time, that way if something comes up I don't have to worry about getting the potions to the stupid plant late and failing this whole project._

_Well I think it'd be wise for me to go to sleep now, I'm so tired._

_Yours Always,_

_Lily Evans"_

" So she thinks I'm funny too, wonder what else she thinks of me..." he said to himself turning the page. What he saw next broke his heart into a million pieces and just about made him want to stab himself, but he would never do that...

_December 14th_

_Friday 1:55 A.M._

_Dear Diary,_

_I know, I know, I'm totally insane for staying up this late, but I can't help it. I couldn't cry myself to sleep tonight like I have so many times, so I thought I would just write in here._

_All I seem to be doing lately is crying, moping, and running from the person who I'd least like to run from, James. _James furrowed his brow at this, maybe he'd finally figure out why she was so mad at him_ I'm so... un-Lily-like lately, and I guess it's all my fault too. I suppose it's time for me to spill out what has been bothering me for the past three months._

_Well, it all started when James and I decided to go to lunch. It was just a normal average day and we were getting along just fine, until we sat down at the table. I noticed that Amanda was gone and asked Mallory where she was, apparently Mandy and Remus hooked up so she was with him. Then I cracked a joke about how Mal and Sirius should get together, which finally happen a couple of days ago, anyway... I should have never cracked that joke because then Sirius said " Well I think its bloody well time for you two to get together!" referring to James and I. What happened next made me so feel so mad and hurt at the same time that I felt I could burst. James flung his head back and started to laugh, I didn't know why until he said, " Yeah, right, Padfoot, like that would every happen!" _

_When he said that a pang went off in my heart, it wasn't some good type either, I mean it was more like me hitting rock bottom. Why would he say that! Did he think that we could never get together? _Suddenly everything dawned on James and he felt veryguiltybut he had to read on... he just HAD to _Or did he just simply think that I didn't like him? Well I don't know but it made me really mad and so I started yelling at him. Eventually I ended up running out of the Great Hall and ever since then I have been dying to let James know that I am in love with him, _ " She.. loves... me!" James thought to himself feeling like his heart was in a vise _but I just can't. Now that I know he doesn't like me anymore... I just can't. So basically James, Potter broke my heart..._

And that was where James slammed the diary shut and quit reading. He had found out what he needed to find out, and now it was time to do something about it. But how could he possibly do that? How? I mean he couldn't just go up to her and tell her that he had read her diary could he now? No. He had no idea what to do, so he left his room and returned to the deserted common room and put her diary back in her bag, leaving it so she would never know. James figured that eventually she would come out of her shell and talk to him, he would just have to wait until then to talk to her.

**- A WEEK BEFORE SUMMER VACATION-**

Christmas had passed months ago and Lily had received many wonderful gifts. James seemed to have gotten the hint and had left her alone, making her aching heart relax for awhile.

The plant had grown tall, four feet to be exact, and was a very very bright blue. She had turned in the project the day before and she and James had gotten A's. At this James had given Lily an excited hug, which made her very uncomfortable and she had dashed out of the room immediately afterwards.

Mallory and Amanda had noticed Lily's change of attitude and had been pressuring her to tell her what was wrong, but she had just simply told them that she wasn't feeling well, and had escaped their wrath once more.

Today she and James were moving back into the Gryffindor tower once more, since the project was over they had no need to be living together anymore. The rest of the sixth year students would be moving back into their old dorms as well. This both pleased and angered Lily. She loved seeing James' ruffled hair in the morning and smelling is manly cologne but not being able to talk to him was just tearing the teenager apart completely.

**Xxxxx**

" Well, I think that's it," James said to Lily.

Lily didn't answer immediately but rather nodded and then started towards the door.

" Well, I guess this is it, no more living together." said James once more, hoping that she would respond.

And she did, she turned to him and looked very sad but, oddly enough, happy too, " Yeah, I suppose so." said Lily, very quietly. " I-I'm going to go now, thank you for your help, goodbye." without even giving James time to say 'your welcome' she was out of the room and back into the Gryffindor commons before you could say ' Tibbly Wibbly'. (( A/N: Lmao, I find that very funny.. okay sorry for my intrusion read on ))

Lily walked over to her favorite chair near the fireplace and slumped down into it taking in the warmth of the fire, even though it was spring the Gryffindor commons were always cold.

She couldn't believe her sixth year was almost over. So many things had happen that year, but one that would change her life forever... her new found love for James. There were only thirteen more days of school left before she had to go back home and face her sister, how fun that would be.

Suddenly the portrait hole open and in came Mallory and Sirius hand in hand. Lily watched Mallory tip-toe up to him and plant a kiss on his lips, and of course Sirius just _had _to go a bit further than a simple kiss. But Mallory had sense so she pulled away and whispered something in his ear. Sirius kissed her on the cheek once more and then walked up the stairs towards the boys dormitories.

Mallory smiled and walked over to the couch, sitting down on the soft fabric, " Hey, Lils, how are you?"

Lily fake-smiled and then said, " Fine, you?" it made her feel very left out, like a fifth wheel with both of her best friends dating her other two friends, and then liking her other 'friend' if you could call it, but him not liking her back.

She sighed dreamily and then said in a breathless voice, " Wonderful,"

Lily giggled, Mallory was like this every time Sirius left the room, " I bet you are... Can I call you Snoggy?"

Mallory rolled her eyes and snorted, " Your crazy, Lils," they both giggled until they were interrupted by Remus and Amanda who walked in together and kissed, like Mallory and Sirius had, and then they both went their own ways. Amanda joined Mallory on the couch and smiled at the two.

" Hey, guys, whatcha up to?" she asked.

" Nothing, just making fun of Mallory, oh by the way, Amanda, your now to be known as Snoggy Jr."

Amanda looked confused at first but then started laughing. There was a comfortable silence between the three of them for a couple of minutes until another person entered the common room... this time it was James.

" Hi, Mal, Mandy... hello Lily,"

" Hey James," said Mallory smiling warmly at him.

Amanda grinned and then said, " Hello!" cheerfully

Lily flushed and managed, " Er.. hi," he had just called her " Lily" for the first time, she wondered if he had noticed what he had just done.

James looked disappointed but sat down in the chair opposite from Lily.

" So what are you three up to?" he asked.

" Oh nothing much, just gabbing like we usually do," Mallory said.

"Just the normal girl talk huh?"

Amanda laughed, " Well, I suppose you could say that,"

" Well, in that case I'll just go up with Remus and Sirius for awhile, bye you two, bye Lily," He said smiling at the three, but directing most of it towards Lily.

She flinched and then waved, her stomach felt like it was swarming with bugs, every time he gave her that smile it about killed her.

Mallory looked over at Amanda after James had left and then gave a sort of 'what-was-that-about' look towards her.

Amanda was the first to speak up, " Lils?" she asked.

Lily looked up from the fire and said, " Hmm?"

" Er... mind if I ask you a question?"

Lily smirked, " You just did, but yes you can ask another."

Amanda looked over at Mallory curiously again and said, " What's with you and James,"

Her eyes widened and she squirmed in her seat, " Nothing,"

" What'd you mean by that.. nothing?" said Mallory.

Lily looked at her feet sadly and said, " Just what I said... nothing, absolutely nothing,"

After a few minutes of pondering, Mallory smiled and spoke up, " Wait a second, I know what's going on!"

Lily looked up and noticed the smirk on her face, "... What? ..." she asked hesitantly.

" You like him, don't you!" Mallory said.

She had hit the nail on the head hadn't she? That was exactly it, but Lily wasn't giving in that easily, " No," she answered simply.

" Okay look, this is me and Mallory your talking to. We know when you lie to us! We've got you this time! He he!"

" Er.. I'm n-not lying I don't know what your talking about," she said turning her head so they couldn't she the look on her face.

Mallory giggled and stood up, Amanda followed, they grabbed hands and started to dance around in circles singing, " Lily loves James! He he he!"

She turned back towards them and couldn't help but to laugh. They stopped and looked down at her, " Just say it Lily, everyone knows you love each other!" Mallory prodded.

" Say it Lily," Amanda joined in.

" Come... _on _Lily!"

She looked at her two friend and then down at her feet, smirking she said... " I like James."

The two started squealing like stuck pigs, grabbed Lily, and started hugging her.

" Finally! It's about bloody time!"

The three of them sat there for the rest of the night, rambling on about their, boyfriends and Lily's to-be-boyfriend. For the first time in several months Lily was enjoying herself.. while thinking about James.

**A/N: I know, it was boring, but oh well, now everyone knows she likes him.. he knows, Mallory knows, Amanda knows, and surely James told Remus and Sirius about the diary so they know too.. It'll just be a matter of time before fluff between the two begins!**

**!Please Review!**

**Much Authorly Love:)**

**Lissy**


	7. Summer Begins

**A/N: Hey guys, so sorry for the long wait, I hope you like this chapter more than I liked writing it. I'm suffering from too much homework and writers block. Sorry guys, hope you like it anyway.. enjoy!**

**Chapter 7**

**Summer Begins**

The last day at Hogwarts had rolled around and now Lily found herself glumly packing her trunk. The end of a year never pleased Lily very much because it was her favorite place to be so she wasn't very happy on this foggy evening. Although leaving Hogwarts _would_ make it easier for her to avoid James ( even though all she wanted was to be friends again and forget everything in the past ), she still wasn't looking forward to seeing her sister and that Vernon guy snogging in the living room the minute she walked in.

Lily closed the lid to her trunk, jumped on top of it and locked it shut. She had so much stuff forced in there that she was sure it would explode any second so she scrambled off down the halls to meet up with the rest of her friends.

A few minutes later Lily was seated in the Great Hall across from Mallory, Amanda and their boyfriends. Unfortunately she had been forced to sit next to James so she was trying her best not to look at him, otherwise she might loose control of her mouth and find herself drooling over him as she did so often. Lily giggled aloud at the thought of the expression on her face when she was consumed in " Jamesie Land".

Mallory sent a curious glance at Lily and reached over to pat her friend's hand, " I see you've forgotten to take your 'sane' pills and instead took your 'in-sane' pills today, that's alright Lily, you'll be okay."

Lily looked at her friend and smiled, Mallory started laughing and soon Amanda, Sirius, Remus and James were too.

" Shut up Mallory, you git," Lily snapped jokingly, kicking at her from under the table.

Mallory grabbed her leg and burst out laughing, " Ow, Lils, you vicious little shit!"

Lily started to say something but was interrupted by the clinking of Professor Dumbledore's spoon on his golden goblet. The Great Hall went silent as he stood up from his seat and opened his arms to his many students.

" I am sorry to say that the end of yet another year has come to a close, but with every ending there is a new beginning. For some it may be buying a new house and getting a job, while for others it may be returning to Hogwarts for yet another wonderful year. Either way, I wish you all the very best of luck.

" Now as you all know at the end of every year every houses' points are counted and a winner is declared receiving the House Cup. The winner of this year is..." Dumbledore said raising his arms and making the blank flags above the many students change to the winning houses colors, " Slytherin!" Everyone sitting at the Slytherin table cheered loudly, tossing their hats into the air and doing little jigs every now and then, while the Gryffindors boo-ed as loud as they possibly could.

Lily's shoulders slumped and her hopes of winning the Cup were ran over by a million Hippogriffs as she watched Professor McGonagall shake Professor McClerk's hand half-heartedly. McClerk of course had to shake the other professors' hands but it was McGonagall who he had glared at as he shook her hand.

Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly and the Great Hall fell silent once again as he continued his speech.

" Yes, yes, congratulations to Slytherin! Now, I do believe that is about it, other than, study over the summer, don't get into trouble and _never_ use magic outside of school! Have a wonderful summer, and let the last feast of the year begin!" he shouted cheerfully as the four tables filled themselves will plates of overflowing food.

Lily looked over at her friends and sighed heavily, losing was never a good feeling. After many minutes of awkward silence between the six of them Mallory slammed her fork onto the table and began fuming.

" How did _they_ win! By cheating!" she said, her face turning red.

Amanda shrugged and continued to eat her food.

" I really honestly think they did! I mean how could _they_ possibly win! Didn't we get highest scores on the O.W.L's!" Mallory shouted, now flailing her arms around as if she were mad.

Sirius grabbed Mallory's hands and said, " Mal, it's alright, it really isn't that big of a deal."

" Yeah, I mean they probably did cheat," James piped in.

Remus nodded, " How else could they have beaten us?"

Amanda snorted, " They probably put a spell on the teachers so that they would give out points consistently!"

Lily lifted her head from the plate and looked at Mallory, trying to put on a reasurring face, but inside she was cooking as well, " Just don't let it bother you too much, I'm sure we only lost by like one point ninety-nine points."

She seemed hesitant for a few seconds but then nodded, " I guess you guys are right, I dunno, I just don't think Snape's house should get the Cup."

Lily smiled, " Well, none of us do, but we can't act like it bothers us because then Snape would definitely make it clear that _his _house won, now wouldn't he?"

Mallory sighed heavily and nodded, " Guess you're right then."

The six of them continued to talk and on occasions made fun of Snivellus, and everyone knows that time flies when your having fun, so before she knew it Lily was dragging her trunk through the aisles of the Hogwarts Express, looking for an empty compartment. Amanda and Mallory had went to sit with Remus and Sirius so she was left all alone, which made her good mood disappear quickly.

Lily pulled on her trunk as hard as possible as she peeked into the last compartment on the train. She heaved a relieved sigh as she stepped into the empty compartment; pulling out her wand she muttered a spell and made her trunk float up to the storage rack.

She flopped down onto the soft seats thankfully and rested her head against the wall. No longer than three minutes and she heard a quite knock and the sound of the compartment door opening. Lily looked up to see who it was and could've just shit her pants at that moment.

" Hey," James said smiling sheepishly at her. " could I sit with you?"

She gaped at him for a few seconds but then cleared her throat and nodded, " Yeah I guess so." she said as calmly as she could.

He sent her his heart melting smile and then began to put his trunk away, " Thanks a million, I've been all over this train and this is the only compartment left! If you wouldn't have let me sit in here with you then I would be stuck standing in the halls!"

It took a lot of self control for her not to drool over him, it seemed that no matter what he did she thought he looked amazing; at that moment she would've given anything to be friends again.

" Uh, yep," she said focusing on the frost that was forming on the window, she checked her watch, 6:55 P.M. She would be arriving home in about two hours... two hours of not talking to him would be very difficult.

James sat down across from her and stared at her, she was about to ask him if she had something on her face when a calm voice came over the loud speaker.

" Thank you for choosing the Hogwarts Express today!" said the voice in a fake cheery matter, " Not like you really had a choice, eh!" it said sarcastically, " Sorry boss... anyway the Hogwarts Express will be leaving in five minutes! Have a nice day,"

Lily laughed at the silly announcement, she knew the person who had to do that and felt sorry for the young girl. She absolutely hated her job.

Glancing at James she noticed that he was still staring at her, and now it was starting to get annoying.

" What? Is there something on my shirt? In between my teeth? What?" she asked picking at her teeth subconsciously, Lily definitely would feel stupid if she looked like an asparagus was stuck between her two front teeth; especially being around him. It was hard enough to talk to him with out keeling over, much less talking to him with green fuzz growing out of your teeth.

James shook his head and turned towards the window. " Uh, no sorry, I was just thinking."

Lily shifted in her seat slightly, " What about?"

He looked at her sadly and said, " This may seem like a dumb question, but,... do you hate me? You always seem to avoid me, and run from me every time I get near, and I really don't understand why."

She looked down at her feet and mumbled, " No, actually just the opposite."

" Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you."

She lifted her head and shook it, " No, I don't hate you. I could never _hate_ you,"

James sighed heavily and then did something she never expected to happen. He reached over and took her hands in his, " Lily, please, I am sorry for whatever I have done to make us... grow apart, as we have. I don't like it one bit that we don't talk anymore, or laugh like we used to. We were friends before... close friends and now we don't even say hi to each other. I'm really sorry, please forgive me."

For a second she was in a state of shock from the fact that she was holding James Potter's hand but soon came out of it and smiled; this was what she had been waiting for.

Lily pulled her hands from his and frowned, James' smile disappeared and was replaced by a look of sadness again, that is until Lily threw her self upon him in the tightest hug he had ever received.

" Of course I forgive you! I was stupid to avoid you for so long!" she said happily in his ear.

James hugged her back and remembered what he had read in her diary about her feelings for him, and he couldn't help but wonder if she still liked him like that; but, thinking wisely, he figured he would ask her about her feelings for him later. At the moment he would like to be no where else, in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express being hugged by Lily, was his life time dream just then.

She pulled away from the hug and smiled at him again, Lily couldn't possibly be happier than to be friends with James again.

" I'm so sorry for being such a jerk," Lily said looking out the window with a disgusted look plastered to her face.

" You weren't being a jerk, you probably had all the reason in the world to be mad at me. I can be quite the git sometimes,"

Lily laughed at this which made James smile. Being friends again made the trip back home much easier for both of the teens, especially Lily because she knew that being friends first meant that much more would come in the future. When the train pulled into the station she sighed unhappily and looked in his direction sadly.

" Well, I guess I'll see you next year," he said extending his hand.

Ignoring his hand she gave him a light hug, " Sorry, for everything James. I hope you have a great summer." with that she pulled away and kissed his cheek lightly.

James eyes widened and his heart began beating heavily in his chest, had Lily Evans just kissed him?

" Make sure to owl me, James," she grinned.

He nodded and smiled back nervously.. wait since when does James Potter get nervous!

She smiled at him and waved her wand, her trunk and owl cage now on the ground next to her, she picked up the cage and trunk and headed out into the chaotic halls of the train.

Once she had successfully found her way off of the Hogwarts Express she waited until she noticed her parents. Lily sat down her luggage and ran to her mother who was squealing and holding her arms out to her.

" Lily! I've missed you so much!" her mum said, giving her a tight squeeze.

" I missed you too mum,"

Lily then let go of her mother and turned to her dad. " Hey dad, I missed you loads too!"

" I'm so happy to see you again Lilikins!"

She winced as her father said her most dreaded nick-name, letting go of her dad she then turned to Petunia. She began to give her a hug but quickly decided against it, this was the sister she hated, the sister that tormented her, she wasn't getting anything but scowls from Lily.

Petunia glared at her, ignoring Lily's evil stare," Hello freak, I was hoping that you'd fall off the edge of a cliff and never return, but to my misfortune you didn't. What a shame..."

Lily laughed sarcastically, " Funny actually, I was hoping the same would happen to you."

With that she turned on her heal and picked up her bags, following her mother and father out of the train station. This was going to be one hell of a summer.

They drove home in silence, except for the few times Mr. and Mrs. Evans would ask Lily a question about school. Lily and her sister stayed as far away from each other as humanly possible, both staring out of the car windows with such intensity that it seemed as if they were studying the fibers in the glass.

After a half hour drive of consistent silence Lily got out of the cramped car gratefully. There stood her beautiful home. It was just as it had been the moment she left it, grass freshly cut, flowers and bushes all trimmed neatly. The yellow paint on the walls of the two story home shining in moonlight.

Lily smiled to herself and walked to the back of the car to get her bags, grabbing them she then walked into the house and plopped her bags down. She loved her home, it was cozy, clean, and always seemed to have a loving heir. If only Petunia would just go away everything would be perfect.

" Welcome home sweetheart!" Lily's mum said, giving her a light hug.

Her father walked in and smiled, " Do you need help getting your owl and trunk up to your room, Lilikins?"

" No, thanks dad, I can handle it." Lily then picked up her bags and walked over to the steps.

_'I should have shrunk these bags, but then I couldn't reverse the spell because I can't do magic until my birthday!'_ She thought to herself.

When she finally got to the second floor she bent over and tried to catch her breath.

" Aw, is poor _Willikins_ tired? To bad!" Petunia said, pushing Lily to the ground.

Lily scowled at her sister, throwing invisible daggers at her, " You just wait Petunia, when I turn 17 I will be able to do magic out of school and you'll be my first victim bitch!" growled Lily as she stood up from her spot.

" Oh, no you won't, I'll have Vernon go after you if you do,"

she laughed, " Oh what's poor wittle _Verny_ going to do to me, while all I have to do is flick my wand and he's on the ground moaning? Hmm?"

Petunia continued to scowl at her sister with hatred, but figuring she had lost this battle she stuck her abnormally large nose into the air and stomped off childishly to her room. Lily snickered and picked up her bags again, continuing to her room.

When She walked into her room she was flooded with a heavenly scent, her favorite smell, apple cinnamon. She inhaled the lovely smell deeply, and pounced onto her bed.

Lily's walls were a deep red color with a silver and white border going all along the top and bottoms of her walls. Her carpet was a yellowish tone with a Gryffindor rug in the middle. She had a beautiful red oak canopy bed that was set off to the side next to a door that led into her large bathroom.

Lily was glad to be home, but she wished that her friends were there, she hated being alone.

She wondered if her friends would even come over at all over the summer, usually they did but now that they both had boyfriends it would all be different. Lily rolled over until she got to the edge of her bed and then hopped off and walked over to her freshly polished desk. She sat down and pulled out her pink quill and some parchment and began writing letters to her friend, letting them all know she was back.

_Hey,_

_I just wanted to let you all know that I arrived safely and everything. Make sure to either owl me or call me on the telephone, that is if you have one. My number is: 7-437-3013, don't forget about me!_

_Lily Evans_

After Lily had made four more copies of the letter, to send to everyone, she dropped her quill and walked over to her brown and white speckled owl. She attached the five letters to Stella's leg and patted her on the head lightly.

" Send these letters to Mallory, Amanda, Sirius, Remus and James for me Stella,"

Stella pecked her on the arm as a sign of understanding and then soared out of her open window and out into the starry sky. Lily watched her until she faded off into the horizon, she left her window open for Stella's return, by then Lily figured she would already be asleep.

Lily flopped down on her bed again and sighed, just as she began to get relaxed a knock was sounded at her door.

" Who is it?" She grumbled from underneath a pillow which she had covering her face.

" It's me," Rose Evans sounded cheerfully from the other side of her door.

" Come on in mum, door's open." Lily mumbled sleepily again, taking the pillow from her face.

Rose walked in clothed in a light blue nightgown with her long auburn hair flowing down her back. The nightgown hugged her curves and was a bit low cut in the front, showing a little, very little, bit of cleavage. Lily admired her mother's beautiful figure more than anything else in the world, she could only hope that one day she would end up just like her mother.

Her mum walked over to the bed and sat down next to Lily, stroking her hair lovingly.

" I just wanted to see if you were hungry, I saved you some roast chicken and potatoes if you want any."

Lily smiled up at her mum, " Nah, that's alright mum, I already ate at Hogwarts. You know, we always have feasts at the beginning and ending of every year so I'm stuffed. Thanks though."

" Oh, that's right, well you know me, Miss Forgetful I guess it's because I'm getting old," Rose laughed.

" You're not old mum! You still look like your twenty! It's fine everyone forgets"

Her mother smiled and kissed her daughter's forehead, " Aw, your so sweet thank you dear! Well, your father and I are off to bed, if you want anything just come get me. Love you, Lilikins, g'night."

" Night mum, love you too," Lily sat up and hugged her mum.

Rose smiled again and walked over to her door, " We'll be right down the hall!"

" Okay, night mum." with that her mother shut the door behind her and she could be heard shuffling down the hallway, into her own bedroom.

Lily looked over at the clock, 9:53, she yawned and got off of her bed, walking towards her wardrobe. She picked through the clothes until she found a pair of pink pj's with polar bears on them. Slipping out of her day clothes and pulling on her pajamas she then shuffled over to her bed, yawning widely again and slid under her warm fluffy feather quilt and fell fast asleep.

**A/N: Okay, this chapter took forever to type as well as was pointless. I will try my VERY HARDEST to get out the next chapter soon. I'm sorry once again for the extremely long wait, don't give up on me guys! I try to update I really do! Please please review! I will update faster with more reviews Thanks guys!**

**Love,**

**Lizz**


	8. A Girls' Day Out?

**A/N: Wow, I didn't update for over two months! That's horrible! Well, I'm very sorry for that, I've been struggling with friend, family, and school issues lately. Thanks for the great encouraging reviews everyone, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter 8**

**A Girls' Day Out...?**

"Lily sweet heart, its time to wake up! Breakfast is ready," Rose could be heard tapping lightly on her bedroom door.

" Alright mum, I'll be down in a sec." Lily mumbled as she sat up and wiped off the drool that had dripped down her face during the night.

Lily, being the uncoordinated person that she was got up from her bed and tripped over her slipper, falling flat on her face and making a vase that was sitting on the edge of her night stand tip and shatter on the ground.

Her mother burst in through the door and shrieked, " Lilikins are you alright dear?"

Lily then rolled over, tears flowing heavily down her face... from laughing.

" Oh, my! What a complete git! Yes, Mum I'm fine." Lily said as she clumsily took her mother's out reached hand to help her stand up.

" You take after me for sure! I don't know how many times I've done that," Rose laughed along with her.

As she walked over to her wardrobe and picked out clothing for the day Rose began to walk out of the room.

"I'm just going to take a shower and I'll be down for breakfast, okay mum?" Rose smiled and nodded, and then turned to leave.

Lily walked into her bathroom and shut the door just as her mom walked in again.

" Oh, and I forgot to tell you, you have two letters that were dropped off by owls. The first owl was a sort of tawny looking owl and the second owl was a dark brown color."

She smiled, " Mallory and Amanda, okay thanks mum," she replied energetically.

Rose smiled and nodded again and this time actually left.

Taking a quick shower she stepped out five or six minutes later smelling like fresh apple blossoms in the spring. It was another one of her favorite scents. Lily pulled on a blue tank top with a pair of loose jeans and hurried into the kitchen. She didn't bother to blow dry her hair and since she was still 16, to her misfortune, that meant she definitely wouldn't be able to do it with magic.

Lily was happy to be home, but as everyone knows there are certain things that can just ruin your happy days and twist them around so that they are one of your worst days. This "certain thing" happened to be sitting in the kitchen snogging was her gag-rific devil of a sister and her walrus-like boyfriend. Neither her mother or father were in the kitchen at the moment, they were off doing who knows what, but if they would've seen Petunia and Vernon going at it like that they would've ripped off their faces, if the other hadn't already.

" Petunia dearest why don't you and your pig of a boyfriend go eat each other's faces somewhere where I don't have to watch... unless you would like me to get a video tape and show it to mum and dad when they get back."

As she sat down at the table and started to eat the food that her mother had left out for her, Petunia and Vernon stopped kissing for a second making a disgusting suction-like noise sound through out the kitchen. Lily rolled her eyes and stared long and hard at her eggs trying to ignore the make out sound effects.

" Lily why don't you move your bloody arse into another room, we were here first." Petunia said in a hissing sort of way.

" Now you know mum doesn't like it when we don't eat in the kitchen, shame on you!" said Lily in fake shock.

Petunia stuck her nose in the air and grabbed Vernon's fat plum-like hand together they stormed out of the room. As she passed Lily she pretended to accidentally walk into her, knocking Lily out of her chair and sending her plate all over her head.

" Bitch," she mumbled as her sister snickered and walked out of the room giggling alongside her boyfriend.

Unable to finish her breakfast, which was now in her hair and most uncomfortably down her shirt, she ran back upstairs after cleaning up the mess in the kitchen and took another shower. When she came back downstairs she realized that she had completely forgot about the letters from Mallory and Amanda so she picked them off of the window ledge and then climbed the stairs once more. Her room was the only private spot she had in the entire house and she would rather not have her sister reading the letters over her shoulder.

Sitting cross legged on her soft carpet she opened the first letter who was from Mallory.

_**Hey!**_

_**I just wanted to let you know I got back safely as well and that I did receive your letter. We should get together sometime soon. Oh, and over the span of the school year your mother and father have some how convinced both my mother and father and Amanda's to get a teletrone, or whatever it is, I really don't know. Anyway, here is my number 7-881-0916. Call me sometime, I have to learn to use this confuddling thing.**_

_**Mallory**_

Lily grinned, teletrone? Honestly her friends had some serious problems. She put that letter down and picked up the one from Amanda.

_**Lils,**_

_**Hi, I got your letter. Also heard that you and James are getting along now, that's great! I'm sure you've already got Mal's letter so here is my felitone number 7-102-3078. Mallory and I were talking about all of us getting together sometime soon, so give me a call! Well, mum needs the owl so I have to hurry, talk to you later!**_

_**Amanda **_

She was now laughing out loud and rocking back and forth, " Oh, so first it's teletrone and then its felitone, what a creative way of saying telephone,"

Lily set the two letters on her desk and decided to call Mallory, since Amanda was probably over there anyway. She dialed the number quickly and waited for her friend to answer.

( Bold is Mallory/Amanda, normal is Lily )

**Hello?**

Mal?

**Lily?**

Hi! How are you?

**Oh, I'm fine, it's so good to hear from you! It seems like we haven't talked in years... but it's only been**

A day.. I know. So I got the letters, is Mandy there with you?

**Yeah, she's right here. ... Mandy, you wanna say hi? distant talking and rumbling **

**Hi, Lils! How are you? I miss you!**

I'm good, I miss you guys too! So, what do you girls think about going to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade for a bit? And maybe you two could stay the night, that would be fun!

**Oh that sounds great! Lemme ask Mal,... talking in background. Yeah, Mal's up for it too, we will talk to Mal's parents and call you back in a little bit okay?**

That sounds good to me! I'll tell my parents too, you guys going to floo here if you can come?

**Uhh, mmm... yeah that sounds good, floo should be alright. **

Okay then, talk to ya later! Tell Mal I say bye!

**Okay, bye!**

Lily hung up the phone and walked out of her room to tell her parents about their plans. She found her mother in the kitchen cleaning the floor with a muggle device called a mop.

" Mum, would it be alright if Mal and Mandy floo-ed over through the fireplace and stayed the night?" she asked innocently.

" Yeah, that sounds okay to me, when are they coming?" Rose asked, placing the mop in the bucket and resting on the handle.

" Well, they're going to call me back after they ask they're mum and dad. Oh, and we were planning to go out for the night so do you think I could pull out my old car?" Lily asked again smiling sweetly.

She looked hesitant at first but then nodded, " I suppose. I remember when I was a teenager, so I'll let you go."

" Thanks mum!" Lily hugged Rose and then started off towards her room, but before she could even reach the stairs her mom called back to her.

" Lillian get back here,"

" Coming,"

Her mom looked at her sharply and said, " Now, if you are going to go out you have a curfew to follow, no later than one, understood?"

She smiled and started walking off, " Loud and clear!"

Lily sat in her room and wrote in her diary for the next thirty minutes waiting for the phone to ring, and when it did she locked her diary and picked up the phone.

Hello?

**Hey, is this Lily?**

Nope she died.

**Ha ha ha, real cute. Well, sorry it took so long but we had to pack!**

squeal

So, you can come then?

**No, we just packed for fun! Yes, of course you dolt!**

Alright, when are you coming?

**Um, now! Duh. Your on a roll today Captain Obvious! laughing We'll be over in your living room in about... fifteen seconds!**

Okay, see you then!

**Can't wait.**

Lily hung up the phone and ran out of her room and down the stairs, knocking over the on coming devil... a.k.a. Petunia, and skidding into the living room. She plopped down in an arm chair and waited for their arrivals.

She drummed her fingers so hard on the soft blue material that she was sure her neighbors would be able to hear, but Lily couldn't resist. Her friends would be here any second! And it didn't matter to her how long they hadn't seen each other, which just so happened to be that one lingering day, but she still missed them.

Suddenly a pop was heard and Mallory slid out of the large white-brick fireplace, coughing and covered in a greenish dust.

Lily rushed over to her friend and lended her a hand" Mallory! It's so good to see you!"

" I know! That whole day was just horrible! What are we going to do with ourselves? This is crazy."

She giggled and hugged her as another pop sounded and Amanda stepped out of the fireplace very skillfully and without a speck of dust on her.

Amanda smiled and ran over to Lily, rapping her in a rib busting hug, " I'm so glad to see you!"

She grinned, " I know, this is great we're all back together,"

Amanda turned to Mallory and snorted, " What happened to you? Did you fall into a pile of dirt or something? You look like you just stuck your finger in a socket!"

Mallory turned and scowled at her, " You're just as sweet as lemons aren't you? No, you git, I am not exactly a major in floo travel!"

She looked taken aback, but then smirked and turned to Lily, " Must be pms-ing," she whispered, Lily covered her mouth and had to turn around to keep from laughing.

" What was that?" she hissed viciously.

Amanda laughed and hugged Mallory who was so angry that she didn't know how to respond.

" Mal, I'm only fooling with you! You look fine, but goodness child I must give you some tips on floo travel!"

Her face lightened a bit but she still looked angry, " I'm going to go change,"

Amanda and Lily giggled and nodded.

" When you get back we'll head off to Hogsmeade!"

" Alright,"

" Hurry!"

XxxxxX

The three of them had just arrived in Hogsmeade and were eager to go shopping, so purses ready, and shoes secured they basically flew out of Lily's red mustang and into the crowded streets.

They were all together, and were going shopping, Lily didn't think it could get much better than this, but later her idea would turn on her and something totally unexpected would happen.

Lily, leading the pack, turned onto the sidewalk and began looking for clothing shops. Her favorite one was nearby, it was called ' Perfection'. All of the outfits would automatically fit to whatever size you were and made you look almost... well.. perfect!

" Oh, here it is, come on guys let's go in here, they have the coolest outfits!"

Mallory jumped up and down and clapped her hands like a little six year old with a box of chocolate frogs, " I love this shop! My mum used to take me here every year for my birthday!"

They stepped into the store and inhaled the wonderful smell of clothing. With one look at each other they smiled and ran off in opposite directions.

Lily went to the far left side of the store where all of the halters and tanks were. Just as she started to get into it she heard the clicking of heals behind her.

Behind her stood a plump woman with white wispy hair and rosy cheeks. " Would you like any help holding your things?"

Lily looked around the shop, grinned madly and nodded.

**Fifteen Minutes Later**

Anyone who would've seen that plump lady following Lily would've felt extremely bad for her.. if they could even see her under the large mass of clothing that was towering in her arms.

Lily was now taking every item out of her arms and placing them on the counter to be checked out. It took ten minutes to fully empty the womans arms. Feeling bad for her Lily opened her purse and pulled out a galleon and handed it to her.

" Thank you so much for helping me!"

The woman smiled and nodded, as she walked away she could be seen rubbing her shoulders and mumbling to herself.

Lily giggled and waited patiently for the woman to finish ringing up the items. A few minutes later Lily picked up her three stuffed bags and walked out of the store only to find Mallory and Amanda waiting for her, each with three bags or more as well.

They began to make their way down the path some more but then stopped, " Hey do you want to go to Tina's Ice Cream Shop?" Lily asked.

Mallory shrugged and nodded, " Yeah, that sounds good to me, what about you Mandy?"

" Sure," she replied.

With that they all turned around and walked into Tina's. Mallory was the oldest of the three and could legally use magic outside of school so she pulled out her wand and sent their bags back to Lily's room, with the flick of her wrist. They all stared at the menu debating what to get, but soon they had spotted their favorite ice cream of all time, Pixie Swirls. It was the best kind around, it was bright blue with whitish swirls that would remind anyone of a cloud and it just seemed to slide right down your throat.

All of the sudden a teen age girl appeared from a small door behind the counter. She had bright pink spiked hair with purple highlights and she was blowing and popping bubbles continuously. Her long hooked nose and beady watery eyes made her appearance very intimidating.

" Yeah, may I help you?" the girl asked rudely as she examined her long curving green nails.

Lily resisted the urge to retch right then and there, she was about the ugliest person that she had ever seen, but Lily was polite so she forced a smile and nodded.

" Yes, we'll have three of the Pixie Swirls,"

" Cone or cup?"

" Um, ..."

The girl sighed heavily and widened her eyes, " Look lady I don't have all day,"

Lily raised her eyebrows at the girl and said " Cones, please,"

" That'll be seven sickles and four knuts, be with you in a minute."

With that she turned on her heal and stomped through the door back into what must've been the kitchen.

Mallory sighed, " Well, she had good manners,"

" I know, her parents must be very proud," Amanda added sarcastically.

Lily just shook her head and laughed, " Someday it'll come back and hit her in the face."

" Yeah, I should do it now. That's what I wanted to do, but that wouldn't have exactly been polite," Mallory mumbled obviously annoyed at the girl.

Lily was about to respond to that but the door behind the counter busted open and out came the girl with a tray in her hands cutting the conversation short. She slammed it down on the counter, took the money from Lily and said "Have a good day," without any signs of emotion, she then went back to popping her gum and examining her nails.

Mallory took the tray and turned, but she didn't walk on, she stopped abruptly and stared ahead of her. Curious as to why she stopped so suddenly the two walked up next to her and followed Mallory's eyes to the other side of the room where, three boys with three cones of ice cream sat, smiling and laughing. The three boys' names just happened to be, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and James Potter, the three very boys that none of the girls expected to see.

Mallory squealed and roughly handed the tray over to Amanda, but the tray didn't stay in her possession very long because as soon as Mallory had made contact with Sirius, Remus was up looking over the shop for Amanda. So there Lily stood alone with a tray of ice cream that she and her friends were supposed to be eating together, but no! They saw their boyfriends and now all of that was just a memory, sure just ditch Lily.

Lily walked over to the table and slid into the booth, since Mallory was sitting pretty much on top of Sirius, and Amanda was sitting next to Remus she had to sit by James, which wasn't at all minded but still, she would've rather sat by one of her friends.

Since the four love birds were so deeply in conversation with each other, that once again left her to talk with James. But she liked that.. in a way.

James looked over at her and smiled, " Hey, how's everything going?"

She smiled back and scrunched her nose up, " Alright I guess, found my sister making out with her gay boyfriend in the kitchen though."

" Oh, man, that stinks I bet you were ready to hurl."

She giggled and nodded, " Yup," Lily picked up her ice cream cone and began to lick it.

" How's everything with you?"

He shrugged, " Okay I guess."

" Just okay?" she asked.

He opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by Mallory, " Hey, Lils?"

She turned her attention to her friend and smile, " Yup that'll be me,"

" Would you mind if we went out with Sirius and Remus for awhile?" Mallory asked as innocently as possible.

Sure she would mind, it was supposed to be a 'Girls Day Out'! But that was already ruined.

" Nah, that's okay, just meet up at my car by twelve thirty," she looked at her watch, " that gives you about four hours."

Her face brightened and she leaned over to hug Lily, " Thanks Lils," she whispered in her ear, " your the greatest."

She just nodded as the four of them piled out of the booth, " See you later Lils," Amanda said as she took Remus's hand and walked out.

" Bye,"

James looked at her and grinned, " Well, what to do now, we're all alone."

Lily eyed him suspiciously, " Don't pull anything Potter,"

At first he looked surprised but then laughed when he noticed her smirking.

" So, you want to go for a walk or something, it's pretty nice out." he offered.

She nodded, " Sure that sounds good." Any time she had alone with him was great... now that she faced the fact that she was pretty much in love with him.

**A/N: Okay, I have to end it here, the next chapter will probably be all about those four hours that they are alone with each other. So, give me loads of reviews and I'll post that as soon as possible! Thank you to all of my faithful reviewers who put up with my slow updating, I love you all!**

**Lissa**


	9. A Hypothetical Question

**A/N: Well I didn't take _too_ long to update this time. Lol. I hope you all like this chapter! Thanks for the reviews guys! I always look forward to them.**

**Chapter 9**

**A Hypothetical Question**

RECAP:

_James looked at her and grinned, " Well, what to do now, we're all alone."_

_Lily eyed him suspiciously, " Don't pull anything Potter,"_

_At first he looked surprised but then laughed when he noticed her smirking._

" _So, you want to go for a walk or something, it's pretty nice out." he offered._

_She nodded, " Sure that sounds good." Any time she had alone with him was great... now that she faced the fact that she was pretty much in love with him._

END OF RECAP:

Lily scooted out of the booth and started towards the exit, but she felt something was missing. James walked up next to her and lightly poked her shoulder.

" Hey you forgot your purse back there," he said handing it to her and giving her the smile that melted any girl down to nothing more than a pile of water.

" Oh, thanks, I knew I forgot something," she laughed, trying to avoid his dark brown eyes.

" No problem, so where do you want to go?" he asked as he held the door open for her.

" Thanks, um,.. I dunno isn't there a park near by?" she asked, looking over at him.

She watched his facial expressions as he thought about where the park was, and she couldn't help but think how cute it was when he was thinking. She felt like pouncing on him and kissing him right then and there, but that would be a little too... forward.

James' eyes lit up and he nodded, " Yeah, here let's just apparate there," He held out his hand and she just looked at it.

He smiled and looked at her as if she were an moron, " Are you going to take my hand or are you just going to admire its sexiness all day?"

She rolled her eyes and slapped him playfully, " There's nothing sexy about your hand, James,"

Lily took her hand and looked up at him, he smiled and squeezed it gently, a tingling rush went through her body from the tips of her fingers all the way to the ends of her toes. Swallowing hard she turned from him and waited for him to apparate, closing her eyes tight she could feel the familiar feeling of them magically going from one place to another.

When she opened her eyes again she found herself standing on a crooked dirt path that was lined with blooming cherry trees. The petals from the trees had fallen onto the path and reminded Lily of the isle you walk down when you're getting married. It seemed a bit odd to her that the very man she had so quickly fallen for was standing next to her. His hand still latched to hers unknown to either of them, for they were to entranced with the beautiful park before them.

To her right was a slight hill that had a starry pond, much like the one at Hogwarts, sitting at its edge. Its waters were shimmering brightly in the light of the setting sun. Right in the middle of the peaceful pond was a little island about the size of a large house. It was scattered with trees and had what appeared to be a small fountain flowing softly in the distance, surrounded by a big willow tree and a few cherry trees. To sum it all up, it was a very beautiful and calming park that would surely make any depressed person feel happier in an instant.

" Where are we?" Lily asked turning to James.

He looked at her and smiled, " My favorite place, Moonlight's Edge."

She looked at him oddly, " Why is it your favorite place? I was sure the Quidditch pitch would be you favorite." she asked stressing the word favorite each time.

James flashed his white teeth at her in a wide smile, " Well, mum used to take me here when I was younger. It was one of the only times that she would take time off work to do things with me."

As their eyes met, that odd feeling that made her feel as if she were ready to hurl rushed into her stomach again. She glanced down at her feet, and in doing so she noticed that they were still holding hands.

Lily looked at him in shock at first but then smirked, " You know, you can let go of my hand right?"

He turned a bit red in the cheeks but then smiled and said " Yeah, I know,"

James then squeezed her hand grinned and turned still holding onto her, and began to walk down the path.

Lily thought she was going to die, her head was going crazy:

Oh, Merlin, my hand is starting to sweat! What do I do?

**Well, calming down would help, genius!**

I cannot calm down! That's impossible, he's holding my hand!

**...So! Just breathe, usually that'll help you keep your insanity.**

Oh, my, this is crazy... wait.. why is he holding my hand? Does he...

**Like you? Uh, obviously!**

Oh! My! Gosh! What do I do? Anytime now I'm going to say something stupid and then he will look at me weird and he will never talk to me agai-

**Try acting normal, okay! If that doesn't work then give me a call, as for now I'm done talking about this... this is ridiculous, this was NOT in the handbook!**

... But I can't call you, you're in my head. And ... What handbook?

**Ugh! You are a royal git!**

Snapping back into reality she realized James had led her to the edge of the pond. He was looking at her oddly and now had both of her hands in his.

" Are you alright, Lily?" James asked, sounding concerned.

She gulped hard and nodded, " Uh, yeah, why, uh do you, uh, ask?"

He widened his eyes, " Well you were mumbling over and over, ' can't call you, what handbook, what handbook?'"

She turned crimson, " Oh, uh that... heh, well you see I guess I was thinking to hard. Mum ... uh she asked me before I left the house to find her ... handbook and I didn't know what handbook she was talking about. Um and she didn't lend me her cell phone so I can't call her... heh, guess I was thinking to hard."

He grinned and let go of one of her hands.

Suddenly Lily became aware that her hand was starting to feel cold, and when she looked down she noticed his hand was no longer holding hers. She looked over at him and saw him staring right back at her.

James cleared his throat, " Lily,... I have a question... a hypothetical question, it might not be true I mean it isn't .. well it _could_ be I mean its pos-"

She giggled and nodded, " Yes, James just ask, I understand its hypothetical.

He ran his hand through his messy hair only making it look worse, " Well, if I were to tell you that I ... liked you... as in more than just a friend... and even possibly more than just liking you, what would you say back."

A cold feeling ran down her spine but she ignored it. She looked down at her toes and then raised her head again and flashed him her bright smile. Walking towards him she rapped her arms around his neck and tip toed up next to his ear.

" I would say.. _hypothetically_ of course, the same exact thing back to you." she then let go of him and winked.

James looked shocked at first but then a look of complete bliss overcame him. He stepped in closer to her and put his arms around her waist, pulling her in to him. She loved the feeling of being close to him so without even knowing she was doing it she slipped her arms around his neck again and looked him straight in the eye.

" So," he started, smirking the Potter smirk that had became famous among the ladies, " If I were to _hypothetically_ ask you out, what would you say to that?"

Her eyes widened in excitement and her knees wobbled, hopefully they weren't speaking hypothetically anymore. Lily's inside feeling were hidden by the seductive smirk she had plastered to her face.

" I would probably say, yes,"

James leaned in closer to her and whispered in her ear, " Lily Evans, will you go out with me?"

Without moving she said, " What a dumb question to ask, of course I will!" She then turned her head and kissed him.. her first kiss ever, with the boy that she least thought she would share it with.

It was just like she had dreamed it would be, soft and tender yet fiery and passionate, she felt like she was floating on a cloud, like she was carefree without a worry in the world. _What could be better than this?_ She wondered, well a little bit later she would find out.

As they pulled away from each other a shooting star caught the corner of Lily's eye.

" Whoa, look at that there goes a shooting star," she said dreamily looking up at him.

His lips curved up into a slow smile" Well, let's make a wish,"

Lily closed her eyes and thought hard about what she was going to wish for... and a second later she knew exactly what to wish for.

When she opened her eyes again she looked over at James and stared deep into his chocolate orbs, smiling genuinely, a smile that hardly anyone ever saw. She was so overwhelmed, and so excited all at the same time. Lily felt like she could just scream, out of it all.

" What are you smiling about?" he asked quietly with an odd look on his face.

She just shrugged, "Nothing... I'm just... happy I suppose."

James took her hand into his own and brought it to his lips, " And I will make sure that you always will be,"

Lily blushed a deep red, but James couldn't tell for the darkness around them. Hands locked they began to walk along the shimmering waters, thinking to themselves.

James broke the silence a few minutes later.

" Lily, I have been meaning to ask you something."

" Okay, go ahead. Shoot."

" Every year Sirius and Remus come over to stay for the summer. And um... Well, I know its awfully forward but we've known each other for awhile and all.. and well, I was wondering if you and the girls would come along. Sirius and Remus I expect will ask them. But it would be lovely if you'd come too,"

Of course she wanted to go, but the problem wasn't her it was her parent's. Hopefully when she got back home and she asked them it wouldn't turn into another Evans fight.

" That sounds great, that would be just fantastic! I would love to go, but I have to ask my parent's of course."

He gave her a nervous look once again, " Uh there's one more thing.. my parent's aren't going to be there the entire summer... only for the first week or so that you lot will be staying."

" Um, well... I'll just leave that out." she smirked.

James flashed his teeth at her and bent down, quickly pecking her on the cheek.

" I was hoping you'd say that."

Lily didn't say anything she just kept smiling, looking down at her watch quickly the time read, 12:15.

Her eyes widened " Oh, dear, we have to get back to the car. It's 12:15, could you apparate us there?"

He nodded, " Surely, hold on tight," he said as he squeezed her hand gently.

" Now I don't know about that... I don't think I want to hold _your_ hand." Lily said jokingly.

James grinned and nudged her playfully with his shoulder." Sorry to late, you already are,"

A few seconds later they were standing next to the car. There standing with their hands on their hips, and looking rather annoyed were her two best friends and their dates.

" What took you so long?" Amanda asked.

Mallory nodded, " Yeah, we've been standing here for twenty minutes!"

Lily smirked, " Sorry guys, James and I had some... business to deal with."

They looked at each other in excitement and squealed, " Oh, my god! Are you guys... you know!"

James grinned and put his arm around her shoulders, " You mean going out? Because if you do then yes, we are."

Sirius walked over to James and clapped him on the shoulder, " Finally, mate, took you long enough."

James just rolled his eyes.

Mallory and Amanda had by this time attacked Lily and were hugging her like there was no end.

" Ohmygosh, this is great! I'm so happy now!" Mallory said, giggling loudly.

Lily smiled, " I'm happy too, but we have to go! James will you come with us? Because I might need you to be there when I ask my parents."

He nodded, " Sure we all apparated here so they have a way to get back. I'll meet you guys at my house, okay?"

Remus nodded, " Alright but, Mallory and Amanda's things are already at your house, I took them home to talk with their parents about it."

" Okay, see you lot later then,"

Lily gave them all quick hugs and waved as they apparated away before she hopped into the driver's seat and started the engine.

James opened the door, sat down and buckled his belt like a pro. Lily was expecting him to be completely confused.

As she drove off she looked over at him and asked, " So who taught you about cars? You seem to know some about them."

" My dad is rather obsessed with muggle items, that's why we have phones and televisions and why I have a car. My mother and I never really got into muggle items until father picked up a book at the library on them and made us all read it. We all found it quite interesting so we've gotten many muggle things over time."

" Oh, that sounds interesting, that's what my parent's did to Mallory and Amanda's," she laughed, " My dad loves getting witches and wizards to use muggle items, he finds it really funny when they haven't a clue how to use them."

James smiled and chuckled to himself. " So, how much longer until we get to your place?"

Lily smirked and defensively said, " What I'm boring you?"

He shook his head, " No! I just wondered."

She giggled, " Only kidding, actually this is my road so about fifteen seconds."

Lily pulled into her driveway, took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. Checking her watch as she walked over to James it said, 12:33. Thank heavens she was under curfew they may be more easy going now than if she had arrived ten minutes later.

James took her hand in reassurance as she leaded him to the door.

They stepped into the warm living room and there sitting on the couch watching some comedy show, where Rose and Richard Evans.

" Hey mum, hey dad, I'm back." She greeted, walking over to them and leaving James standing at the door.

" Ello pumpkin!" her father said, enveloping her in a hug.

Her mother smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek, " Did you have a good time?"

" Yeah, it was great." she smirked in James' direction, " There's someone I want you to meet."

Lily walked over to James and held his hand, " This is my boyfriend, James Potter."

" James?" Her father started walking towards him and looking him over, " Is this the same James that you've talked about every year since the spider deal?"

" Y-yes daddy, but he's changed,"

" Changed has he? How so?" Her mother quizzed standing next to her husband with her hands on her hips.

" He's not like that anymore, he doesn't pull pranks... as often," she added quietly.

Richard raised his eyebrows, " Really? As often huh? Isn't this that same James Potter that traumatized you in front of the entire school you're second year?"

James gulped hard, " Sir, I was young and ignorant then, I've made my mistakes. But I've learned from each of them. I have no desire to hurt your daughter, I never will. I care for her more than I've ever cared for any other person."

Rose's eyes glittered as she heard this, that was all she needed to hear, that he cared for her like that and she was happy.

" You do, eh? How long have you felt this way?" he asked, crossing his arms across his chest and examining him over top of his round spectacles.

He looked down at Lily and put his arm around her waist, squeezing her lightly, " Ever since the first time I set my eyes on her beautiful face,"

Lily looked up at him and smiled brightly.

" Oh come on Richard! He obviously makes our Lillian happy, look at her shine!" she whispered in his ear.

James and Lily hadn't broken their gaze and her parents had noticed that. Her father's eyes lightened and he put his arm around Rose.

" I remember when we looked at each other like that for the first time." he smiled.

Clearing his throat he extended his hand to James, " Sorry I don't believe we've been properly introduced, my name is Richard, and this is my wife Rose.

James smiled and shook his hand he then turned to Rose and nodded towards her.

" Its a pleasure."

Lily gulped hard again and sighed, " Now that you've met him and accept him I need to ask you something again."

Her father looked at her and smiled, " Sure pumpkin what is it?"

" Um, well would it be alright If I spent the summer at his house?"

Richard seemed a bit shocked and Rose's face went a little pale.

" The whole summer?" he asked.

She nodded, " Yes..."

" Well, I don't know..." Rose said, fiddling with the pearl necklace that Lily had given her the past Christmas. " That's an awfully long time."

" Please mum, daddy. Mallory and Amanda are allowed to go. Please!" She begged, giving them that ' I'll never ask for anything ever again!' look.

Her mother's eyes softened and she looked over at her husband again, " Well, I guess it wouldn't be _that _long, Richard what do you think?"

He seemed to be in deep thought. His eyes shifted from James to Rose to Lily and back to Rose.

" Oh, alright. I suppose it would be alright. Get outta here," he said jokingly shoving Lily playfully.

" Oh, thank you daddy! And you too mum! I'll go pack right now." Lily said. Her eyes seemed to be shining brighter than they ever had shined before.

James followed Lily up the stairs and into her room.

" Here I can do it much faster." James said, chuckling at Lily who was struggling to pull her trunk from one side of the room to the other.

She giggled, " Yeah, I bet you could."

With a simple flick of the wrist all of Lily's things flew into her trunk. James swished his wand again and the lid of the trunk closed and it floated over to him.

" All you need to carry is yourself and your purse. I left that out for you."

She smiled and walked over to him, " Thanks," she gave him a soft kiss and walked out of her room with him following behind her.

" We're going to apparate to his house, I'll see you guys later. Love you mum," she said as she hugged her mother goodbye. " Love you dad,"

" We love you too, now be good. And be careful, don't come home pregnant!" her mother chastised playfully.

Lily's face matched her hair and James had turned crimson. " Bye mum." She said rolling her eyes as she took his hand.

James smiled down at her, " Next stop, Potter Mansion!"

Within a few seconds a pop was sounded and they were gone.

**A/N: I really like this chapter, I tried not to rush things too much, but I needed to get this one out. I hope you all enjoy this. Please review! I really would appreciate it! Reviews always encourage me to do better each time, so give me lots! Lol.**

**Love you all!**

**Lissa**


	10. The Arrival

**A/N: Alright guys I'm starting to get a little discouraged here. Lol. I got two reviews on chapter nine, and all of the action started there! Ahh, I'm mad at myself. Well, thanks to the two reviewers, much appreciated! Let's hope we get a couple more on this one:D**

**Disclaimer: Just a reminder since ten chapters are up I thought I would go ahead and make it fresh in everyone's mind that, I do not own anything in the HP series, unless it is noticeable that I have created it. Everything else belongs to my forever loved idol, J.K. Rowling.**

**Chapter 10**

**The Arrival**

A loud crack sounded through the quiet stillness of the trees about them. Lily opened her bright emerald eyes and was mesmerized by the view about the new couple.

There in front of her was the largest most beautiful mansion she had ever set eyes on. It was four and a half stories of dark gray stone with hundreds of turrets and windows.

Lily and James were standing on a dull red brick path, lighted by charmed candles that floated above them. Lining the path were many birch trees, spaced out evenly. Out side of these trees was a dark and mysterious forest that seemed to never end.

" So, what do you think? Are you going to say anything?" James asked breaking her out of the trance.

She smirked, " How 'bout, I hate you."

He smiled, " Now, both of us know that's a lie."

Lily tiptoed up to his level and pecked him on the cheek, " I know, now come on let's go. This forest is making me nervous."

Lily snatched his hand and began to drag him along with her up the long endless path. James had the trunk floating in front of them as they walked together. He let go of her soft ivory hand and put his arm around her shoulders as the neared the porch.

" Thanks for deciding to come with me."

Lily shrugged, " Just think of it as a date... a very, very, long date,"

When they came up to the large towering oak door he opened it, picking up the trunk and grinning at her, " That sounds good to me,"

She rolled her eyes at his corny-ness, but laughed all the same, " Thanks,"

" No problem,"

The outside of the mansion was absolutely nothing compared to the elegance of the inside. Everything seemed to be either marble or gold, all of it relating to Gryffindor.

A long aisle of black and gold speckled marble extended out in front of them and then split in two and forked off to the opposite sides of the room, the path eventually connected to two magnificent staircases that led to the second floor. On the second floor was a balcony that had large flowing red draperies with shimmering gold tassels hanging off of the edges of them.

Dangling in the middle of the room was an astonishing chandelier that took up much of the ceiling, Lily couldn't help but wonder how it got up there.

On each side of the aisle way were two lounging areas and in the middle of the staircases, directly under the center of the banister above was an archway that led into another room.

The lounging areas were furnished with rich dark brown sofas and wooden tables on either side of them. On the walls above them were many pictures of all different sorts : pictures of James, his family, his ancestors, different headmasters, famous witches and wizards, some even just extravagant paintings of castles, mystical creatures, and different parts of the world.

Everything about this, entry room seemed to enchant Lily and make her want to stay here forever.

" This is fantastic," she said and an awed voice. " Its just unbelievable."

He chuckled and looked down at her, " This is only one of the fifty rooms in this house,"

Her jaw dropped, but she closed it quickly, " Oh, I would hardly call this a house."

James began to reply but he was ever so rudely interrupted by the sound of his four friends.

" Jamsie boy you've finally arrived, we've been waiting for you!" Sirius squealed as he ran over to James and jumped on him, giving him a hug.

" Gerrof! Ug, you git how many times have I told you not to call me that?"

Sirius gave him the puppy face, " Aww, poor Jamsie Wamsie doesn't like it? Well, I bet if his Lillikins called him that he would"

James' eyes flashed at him, " I'm warning you," He growled, " One more time Sirius, and I swear I will hex you into obliviation."

Sirius chuckled loudly, " Calm down mate, I was only fooling with you,"

" You are insufferable."

Mallory walked up and slipped her arm around Sirius' waist, " But we all love him now, don't we?"

Remus laughed, " Of course we do,"

" Who couldn't, I mean look at him," Amanda added, motioning towards Sirius.

James just rolled his eyes, in annoyance; but Lily could've sworn she saw him grin, " Whatever. Lily, Amanda, Mallory come with me, I'll show you to your rooms."

The girls detached themselves from their boyfriends and followed James up the left staircase. Lily looked at the pictures as they passed them, not paying the slightest bit of attention as to where they were going. She watched James and his family dance and laugh and play together in the pictures, smiling at every photo.

"... and here is your bedroom Lily," the sound of his voice interrupted her thoughts.

She turned to him and shook her head, " Uh, sorry, what was that?"

James pointed to a door a, " Here is your room, Mine is across the hall, Mallory's is to the right of it, Amanda's is to the left, and Sirius and Remus are in the next hall to the left."

She nodded, " Thanks, I think I'll get some rest then. Goodnight Mal, Mandy.."

The girls hugged her briefly, said goodnight to one another, and walked into their rooms leaving James and Lily alone in the hall.

He smiled waved his wand and her trunk appeared in front of her, " There you are, I'll be just across the hall if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask."

" Okay thanks, James," Lily smiled and walked up to him, " Goodnight," she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then stepped into her room.

Just as she was closing the door behind her she heard him reply, " Sleep well,"

Her new room for the remainder of the summer was one that she could definitely get used to. It was a pale blue room with a creamy carpet that your feet sunk into with each step.

In the middle of the left side of the room was a four poster bed with bed hangings that matched the color of the carpet, right now they were tied back showing the soft blue quilt that covered it. Next to her bed was another door leading into a full sized bathroom. She also had her own desk, a walk in closet, a full sized mirror and a window seat that over looked the back yard.

Lily was going to unpack her clothes but then realized that she couldn't use magic, so deciding she would do it the next morning she slipped into her night clothes and climbed under the covers.

XxxxX

Lily was in the middle of a very interesting dream when suddenly her bed seemed to jump... or something seemed to jump on it. Her eyes snapped open and she jerked badly, there smiling two inches from her face, was the scariest thing she had ever seen, Sirius.

" What the bloody are you trying to do! Kill me!" she shouted at him.

He didn't even flinch he just grinned wider. " James told me to come get you up, he's almost finished with breakfast."

" Did you have to fucking jump on me!" Lily fumed again.

Sirius grinned and nodded quickly, he then squealed like a little girl and jumped onto the floor next to her bed, dodging a pillow that she had thrown at him.

" Geez, don't have to get violent there,"

She scowled at him, trying to hold back a grin, " Get out," she said looking away from him for the fear of beginning to laugh.

" Aw, Lilikins is kicking me out? You can get dressed in front of me you know," he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at her.

She flung the covers off of her and chased him out of her room, " SIRIUS! You pervert! Get out!"

He covered his head with his hands and flew down the hall, " I'm out, I'm out! Merlin!"

Lily smiled to herself as she stepped back into her room. She opened her trunk and searched through it for a pair of jeans and a top. Finally she found a orange 'V' top with dark blue jeans. She took a five minute shower, got dressed and walked out of her room. But to her misfortune she had no idea which way to go, last night she hadn't been paying attention so she didn't have a clue where in the world she was.

She groaned and slapped her forehead.

_**Nice job there genius, what are you going to do now?**_

_Shut the hell up, you always seem to be there at the wrong times, just go away._

_**Okay, lesson one, your conscious never leaves you! Sorry dearest. Oh and why don't you just follow the pictures.**_

_What the bloody are you talking about, what do you mean 'follow the pictures'?_

_**Just try to remember which ones you looked at last night and follow them down the hall, they haven't moved so it should guide you to the stairs.**_

_Okay, for once you are actually helpful, nice idea._

_**Yup.**_

Lily smiled to herself and began walking down the halls, studying the pictures. After fifteen minutes of wrong turns and back tracks she finally found the staircase.

"YES!" she screamed, running down the stairs, " finally."

She walked through the archway she had seen the night before and stepped into the kitchen. She looked around and noticed that no one was anywhere to be seen.

_'Great,'_ she thought, as she stomped her foot.

She walked up to the bar and sat down on a stool, resting her head in her hands.

Lily jumped at the sound of footsteps, spinning around and nearly falling off her stool she saw James standing behind her.

He sighed and looked relieved, " What took you so long? I've been all over the second and third floors looking for you."

She blushed and studied her nails, " Er- sorry about the - er ... wait, I kinda got lost."

James shrugged, " It's easy to do, this place is a maze. Do you want something to eat,"

She nodded, " Yeah, but I can make it myself. You don't need to make two breakfasts."

" Oh, no I made breakfast for everyone else but I didn't eat, I've been waiting for you to come down." He said as he walked around the bar. He waved his wand and all of the necessary equipment for bacon and pancakes appeared.

Lily's insides flip flopped when he said that, no one ever waited for her. That was so sweet of him. Not even her parents waited for her, she always had to watch out for herself, and knowing that she finally had picked the right guy made her feel great inside.

" Thanks, but really, let me help." she hopped off of the stool and walked over to the counter, " I can make the pancakes, you can take the bacon."

James flashed her his smile and nodded, " Alright since you are so persistent, I guess that would be alright."

Within ten minutes breakfast was ready, James had set the table and they were sitting down. Yet again someone walked in and interrupted; Sirius.

Lily who had had her fork half way to her mouth slammed it down and flung her arms in the air, " What is with you and interrupting things? Every time! I swear!"

Sirius backed up and raised his arms in surrender, " Hey, I was just going to grab a butterbeer, for me and Remus! Chill,"

Lily glared at him and James started laughing, Sirius was backing up to the refrigerator acting as if she would stab him any second.

As soon as he had the butterbeers he ran out of the room.

She turned around and rolled her eyes, " He is getting on my _last_ nerve." she said, stressing the word, last.

Lily returned to eating but stopped with her mouth full and looked at James who had his arms crossed and was sitting in his chair smirking at her.

She raised her eyebrow at him, " Wha, er ooh mirking ah?"

" Nothing," he laughed and started eating again.

" No really, what was that look for?"

" I was just imagining what you did to him this morning to make him squeal like that."

She rolled her eyes again, " He squeals like that every five minutes." As if it were a cue you could hear Sirius squeal and then a loud thump followed it.

Lily tried to hold back a giggle but she couldn't help but laugh. James who was in the middle of taking a drink from his goblet, snorted as he heard it and began to choke. This only succeeded in making Lily laugh harder. Soon she was holding her sides and James was blowing his nose trying to get the food out of it.

" Well, my appetite is completely gone after seeing that stuff shoot out of your nose like that,"

She picked up her plate and walked it over to the sink.

" It's a good thing that you had finished eating then, I guess," James replied smartly.

She nodded, " Yep I guess so."

" Here quit cleaning I'll take care of it." James pulled out his wand and said a charm. Soon the entire kitchen was sparkling.

" What do you say we go find the others?" He asked, as they started out of the kitchen.

She shrugged, " Sounds good to me. Oh, and where are your parents, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting them yet."

" Oh yeah, I was meaning to tell you about it over breakfast, but we kind of got interrupted, twice..."

" What do you mean tell me about it? Is there something wrong?"

They had stopped walking now and he was looking at her very seriously.

" It's not too awfully serious, my mother and father are aurors you see. And something came up so they had to apparate to another state. They won't be back for the rest of the summer I'm afraid. My mum left me a note, I found it this morning."

Lily looked concerned, " Well, what came up?"

A look of fright and doubt flashed across his face, " Voldemort has been sighted again, or at least his work has."

Her body quivered at the sound of his name, " What do you mean, his work? What happened."

" Three muggles have been murdered that's what."

" All at once?"

He nodded and then shook his head in disappointment, " Yep, all at once. And what's sad is that there was no reason for it."

She stared off into space and shivered again, " I hate the idea of him being out there and killing others for no reason. The next thing I know it will be someone I love."

" Oh, I'm sure everything will be okay, mum and dad are on the case."

" Yeah, I heard they were two of the most well trained and powerful aurors around."

James smiled proudly, " Yep, well we better go find everyone."

" Oh, yeah, I totally forgot about that," she giggled and began to walk into the next room.

There sitting on a couch chatting and laughing together were Sirius, Remus, and their girlfriends latched to their hips.

" Ah, there you two are, we were afraid you two had gotten lost together," Sirius said jokingly as he wiggled his eyebrows.

James smirked and chuckled, " Nope, too bad actually."

Lily blushed and smacked him on the arm, " James, you are just as bad a Sirius."

He shrugged, " Sorry, I can't help it."

James walked over to another couch and sat down, leaving Lily standing alone in the middle of the room. He patted the spot next to him, she walked over and sat down next to him, only to feel his arm slip around her waist and pull him closer to him.

She smiled to herself as she melted into his strong arms, loving every second of being held.

Mallory yawned and stretched, " So, what do you guys want to do? I mean we've been sitting here all morning."

Amanda nodded in agreement. " Yeah, any suggestions?"

" Well, we could go swimming. The pool's just down the hall." Remus offered.

The girls gaped at James, " You have a bloody pool in this place?" Amanda exclaimed in disbelief.

He nodded, " Yeah, this place is so big you have to put something in it to fill in the gaps!"

" So are we going or not?" asked Sirius with mock annoyance in his voice.

Mallory shrugged" Yeah, sounds good to me,"

Amanda got up, " Same here, come on Lils, Mal, let's go change."

Lily seemed hesitant but got up anyway, but as she walked away she noticed that James had her hand.

She looked at him oddly and tilted her head, " Can... I go now?"

He shook his head and pulled her back down onto his lap.

" I think I'd rather see you get ready right here," he whispered in her ear.

Lily's face matched her hair as she looked at him in shock. " James!" Even though she was outraged, .. or flattered, which ever, she laughed.

" You are worse than Sirius," she said, " But don't think I don't like it." Lily smirked and began to get up again, but he pulled her down once more.

" Oh, come on love birds, I want to go change!" Mallory stated, putting her hands on her hips.

" Alright, just give me a second." James said.

He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips, pulling away after a few seconds. He got up and let go of her hand, " I'll see you in a minute I guess."

She smiled and nodded, " Alright."

" I'll wait for you in the main room, to show you three to the pool."

" Okay, okay we get it, come _on_ Lily, let's go!"

Lily rolled her eyes, giggled, waved to James, and without another second passing was pulled out of the room.

" Merlin, you say that we are attached to Remus and Sirius to the hip, but you two are attached by the mouth!" Mallory joked, as they ran up the stairs.

She shrugged, " Sorry,"

Amanda just laughed, " You two are so hopelessly crazy for each other that it's not even funny."

A few minutes later, after changing the three girls were standing in front of Lily's mirror checking to make sure that everything was tied tight enough and positioned correctly.

Mallory had on a very small, light blue bikini with white flowers on the top and little bows on the sides of the bottom piece.

Amanda had on a white bikini that was low cut but not nearly as skimpy as Mallory's was.

Lily was the best looking of the three though, her green bikini, matching her emerald eyes, stood out and made her look perfect. Her hair fell down to mid back in loose curls that would tempt any man to snog her in the nearest broom closet.

" Does this make me look fat?" she asked.

Mallory and Amanda gave each other annoyed looks, " Uh, yeah Lily you look like a cow."

Lily smiled, jumped and started out of the room, " Fantastic!"

They laughed and followed her out of the room, down the hall and into the main room.

Sure enough there James was in a dark blue pair of swimming trunks with his back turned, looking out the window.

Lily cleared her throat, " Okay, where's the pool, we're ready now."

James turned around smiling at them. But when his eyes met Lily, his smile dropped and his eyes widened. After a couple of seconds, she shifted uncomfortably, feeling like he was mentally undressing her.

" Uh, we're _ready_, can we go now?" she asked.

James shook his head and nodded, " Yeah right this way," he said, his voice cracking slightly.

Lily looked at her friends and shook her head, they giggled and followed him down the hall and into the pool room.

Sirius and Remus were already in the pool, wrestling each other. At the moment, Sirius had Remus in a head lock under the water.

The three of the girls walked over to the edge of the pool and watched the show. Each second the two boys neared closer to them, and when they were at the edge of the pool, they quit fighting, and grabbed their girlfriends' legs pulling them into the water.

Mallory and Amanda screamed and fell face first into the water. Lily was laughing so hard that she thought she was going to die, but she stopped suddenly and screamed as a large hand connected with her back, shoving her into the pool. The boys laughed, but James quit as Lily scowled at him and grabbed his ankle pulling him under.

" How do you like it?" she asked, when he came back up.

Disgusted with their boyfriends, the three girls swam over to the edge of the pool and refused to make eye contact with them.

" Aw, come on, we were only fooling around." James said, swimming over to Lily and floating in front of her.

Lily rolled her eyes and snorted, but she couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face. She splashed him and started swimming away, " Quit looking at me like that!"

She stopped and looked behind her, James was no where to be seen. Mallory was on Sirius' shoulders and Amanda was on Remus', they were playing chicken. But she couldn't seem to find James.

She heard a splash from behind her, and felt a rush of water below her. She looked down and saw James just below her feet smiling up at her like a little kid.

The entire time they were in the pool she was being chased, and finally after a half hour of it she decided she had had enough and had went back upstairs to change.

Now they were all sitting in a living room somewhere on the second floor, Sirius and Remus were playing wizards chess, with Mallory and Amanda sitting next to them, making fun of every dumb move they made. Lily and James were sitting at a bar in the corner of the room chatting.

" Lily?" James asked, as he handed her a butterbeer and seated himself next to him.

She took a sip and nodded towards him, " Yeah?"

" There's something else that I've been meaning to tell you."

Lily smiled, " You seem to be doing that a lot lately."

He shrugged, " Yeah, I suppose I have."

" So, what's it this time?"

" Well, every summer and Christmas break, my parents always throw a ball." He rolled his eyes, " I never thought much of them, they always seemed to be an annoyance to me."

She nodded, " Go on,"

" Well, our annual, ' Potter Ball' is scheduled for next Friday. Mum and Dad said they would be back by then, they made sure to tell their boss. But anyway, I have to have a date."

Lily smiled, " Yes..."

James smirked and shook his head, " You're going to make this difficult for me aren't you."

" Of course I am, I'm female aren't I!"

He set down his butterbeer and continued " Well, would you like to be my date for the Ball, Madame?"

She seemed to be thinking, she rubbed her chin and looked up at the ceiling, " Well... I don't know..."

" Oh come on Lily!" he said shoving her playfully.

She laughed and nodded, " Oh alright, yeah I'll go."

" Good, because Sirius and Remus are already taken," James motioned to the three teens fighting over a chess piece in the middle of the room.

Lily laughed and shrugged, " Oh well, I guess you'll just have to do."

He chuckled and flashed her his famous 'Potter' smile, " So, when do you want to go shopping for your dress?"

She seemed shocked, " Well, I don't know. That really didn't occur to me."

" Wow, that's surprising, usually that's the first thing that will pop into a womans' mind."

Laughing she hopped off of the stool, " Well, I guess I'm just an oddball then."

He followed her over to a couch and sat down next to her. " I guess, well, do you want to go down to Hogsmeade tomorrow and see what they have?"

Lily nodded, " Sure that sounds good to me."

XxxxX

The rest of the day seemed to drag on slowly for the three girls, they were all very excited to go shopping for their dresses, shoes.. and purses of course! That night they had a bit of trouble sleeping due to the fact that they were all worried about what color would go best with their eyes.

**A/N: Gosh this chapter just seemed to drag on didn't it? I couldn't figure out where to stop writing! Well, I hope you all enjoyed it. Please give me some feed back on the chapter, oh and also tell me what type of dresses they should get. Please review! Thanks.**

**Lissa**


	11. A Day At Hogsmeade

**Chapter 11**

**A Day At Hogsmeade**

James walked into Lily's bedroom the next morning, creeping along slowly and quietly so he wouldn't wake her. Little did he know that, at times, Lily could be quite difficult to get up, she wasn't exactly what you'd like to call a morning person. Actually she hated the morning just about as much as she did her sister.

He walked up to her bed and sat down on the edge closest to her. James had had a few girlfriends over the years and each and every one of them were as ugly as a troll covered in dung in the morning, but when he looked down at Lily as she slept a smile crept across his face. He never doubted she would be pretty in the morning but it hadn't crossed his mind that she would look like she did, an angel, his angel.

Ever so gently, still not wanting to wake her, he caressed one of her soft cheeks and pushed the few ringlets of auburn hair that had fallen onto her face off to the side. James bent down and planted his lips on her forehead, pulling away slowly.

" Lily..." he whispered rubbing her bare shoulder carefully, " Lily, it's time to get up."

Not knowing who in hell it was that was waking her, and being the 'morning hater' that she was she did something totally unexpected.

She made a fist and punched at the air, but unfortunately it wasn't the air she hit, it was James' nose.

" OHH!" he shouted; jumping off of the bed and hopping around with his hands on his nose.

Lily woke with a start, she had no clue what she had done but when she saw James wincing as he touched his nose she knew what had happened immediately.

She hopped out of bed and ran over to him, " Oh merlin... I'm so sorry James!"

He looked at her as if she were nuts, " What the bloody hell was that for?"

She bit her lip and tugged at her thin white tank top, " Uh, ... I didn't exactly realize I had done it until you screamed. James I'm really sorry, are you alright?" she asked, concern filling her emerald orbs.

He rolled his eyes and smiled at her, showing that he had already forgiven her. Taking his hand from his nose she could see a few drops of blood seeping from it. James wince in pain and groaned quietly, " Ow, you've got a good punch there Lily"

She gasped " Oh my god, I've broken your nose!" she put her hands on the sides of his face and kissed his forehead, " I'll be right back, let me just go get Mallory, she can use magic but I can't. So just... yeah uhh,... wait right here," She turned and headed for the door but then stopped and turned around again.

" Heh, forgot I was in my pj's" she said, laughing lightly as she shrugged on a robe and ran out of the room.

A few minutes later she was back, dragging a very groggy Mallory behind her.

With one look at James she completely woke up and burst into a fit of giggles.

" Damn Lily! You'd think you would be a little more gentle with a guy if he was your boyfriend. I guess you don't live by that, Merlin, you've broken his nose!"

Mallory snorted loudly and began cracking up again. Lily had turned bright red out of embarrassment and anger, she slapped Mallory upside the head and instantly she quit laughing.

" No really? You think so? How about fixing it then!"

She glared at Lily angrily, " Fine, fine, fine, I'll fix the poor guy!"

Mallory said the basic healing charm and with a flash of bright white light James' nose was completely healed.

He touched his nose carefully, expecting it to hurt still, but no pain was experienced, " Thanks Mal, couldn't live without you,"

She shrugged and giggled quietly before walking out of the room, she shouted back at them as she continued down the hall, " I'll be in the kitchen fixing breakfast if you need anything else, and Lily, please don't kill the poor bloke, all he ever did was ask you out,"

Lily rolled her eyes and walked up to James quickly, she threw her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. He rapped his arms around her and smiled.

" I'm really sorry about that James, I honestly didn't even know I h-" she started

James placed a single finger on her lips and lifted her chin up so that they were eye to eye, " Lily, my dear Lily Flower, it really is okay. Don't worry yourself over it, alright?"

He then bent down and kissed her softly on the lips, " Now, why don't you get dressed and meet me down in the kitchen, I think we'll leave for Hogsmeade after we eat."

She nodded and kissed him on the cheek, " Alright, I'll see you in a few then."

He put up a hand as he walked out of her room, closing the door behind him.

Ten minutes later everyone was fully dressed and they were all eating breakfast together, although, everyone still seemed to be dead tired. Even Sirius was a bit groggy, which was extremely uncommon.

Lily cleared her throat and smiled, " So, er, how did you all sleep last night?"

Sirius groaned and rubbed his head, " A damn branch off of a tree kept banging up against my window. It kept me awake basically all night,"

Remus grinned and rolled his eyes, " Are you unaware of owning a wand and possessing magical powers?"

He shot a glare in his direction and growled, " I couldn't find my bloody wand, it was dark, need I remind you?" he said through gritted teeth.

Remus looked at him as if he had lost his mind, " Ever heard of a light switch?"

Sirius said nothing, he just shook his head in anger and mumbled under his breath as he began to violently smash his food.

" Well, I slept fine. Just like a baby," Mallory chirped now fully awake.

Amanda nodded in agreement and looked towards Lily and James, " How did you two sleep,"

" Good," she said.

James smirked and shrugged, " Well, I slept just fine but it was waking Lily up that went wrong,"

She slapped his arm gently and blushed, feeling eyes upon her. They all began to laugh.

" Yeah," Remus said chuckling slightly, " We heard about that."

" At least we know that if our wands are taken away we can go and hide behind Lily and we'll still be safe," Amanda added sarcastically.

" Oh, leave me alone, for heavens sake I didn't mean to hit him. Why the bloody hell would I purposely punch James?" Lily said, laughing quietly.

Mallory giggled, " Well, Lily, we don't know but we were hoping you would tell us that."

She stood up and walked her plate over to the sink, " Sod off, Mallory,"

Mallory laughed, " Lils hon I'm only fooling with you. We all know you two are madly in love with each other and neither would purposely do anything to hurt the other."

James stood up and walked over to Lily, beginning to wash his plate in the sink next to the one she was using.

" Alright, alright, enough making fun of us," he said, " I think, I, personally have been through enough and, Lily, we all know it was an accident."

Mallory raised her hands in defeat, " Okay, I quit. So, when are we leaving for Hogsmeade?"

" Whenever you're all ready."

Amanda stood up and collected all of the plates, she walked over to the sink and washed them clean.

" Okay then let's get out of here and spend some money, I'm getting tired of making fun of Lily anyway," Amanda said, patting her on the back, as if to show she was only kidding.

Lily sighed, " I'll be back in a second, let me just go get my purse." she walked out of the kitchen and started up the stairs.

" Yeah, me too, I'll be right back," Mallory said, following Lily.

Amanda nodded, " Same for me," and went with the other girls.

" Oh, yeah I better go get mine!" Sirius said in a mocking voice. Mallory, Amanda and Lily glared at him, then turned around; quickly continuing up the long stair case.

" We'll be waiting at the door, hurry, we want to miss the crowds!" James shouted up after them.

Once the girls had grabbed their purses they apparated to Hogsmeade. First they went to Madame Malkins Robes For All Occasions, ((_ A/N: okay two things, One: I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly and Two: I'm not sure if that is in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley, so for the time being that is how it's spelled and its located in Hogsmeade lol, continue reading!... please! _)) but they couldn't really find anything they wanted.

Remus picked up his dress robes there, but James, Sirius and the girls didn't find anything appealing to them. Remus had chose the traditional black robes with a white undershirt, a black tie and black polished shoes. He had tried it on and it fitted perfectly, it made him look very sophisticated, so he bought it.

Lily had tried on a few robes but they just didn't seem to be the one she was looking for.

" So where are we going to go if we can't get the robes here?" Mallory asked, sighing heavily and pushing her sunglasses up to the top of her head.

" We could go down to Eva's Elegant Robes. It's not to far away," Amanda suggested.

Lily nodded, " Yeah let's go there,"

James shook his head, " Well, we won't be able to get anything there, they only carry women's robes."

" We'll find a place, just meet back here at three thirty and we can go out for lunch." Sirius said.

" Alright see you guys later,"

With that the girls set off down the street. Once inside the store they began to browse first for Mallory's dress. They decided that if they all helped pick it out they may be more successful quicker.

Lily pulled out a yellow dress with red swirls all over it and held it up to Mallory, Mallory winced and stuck out her tongue.

" This dress reminds me of vomit," she said, scrunching her nose in dislike.

Lily seemed offended at this and huffed, " Well I think it's pretty!"

Amanda shook her head, " Nah, Mallory's right Lils, it looks like someone spilled paint all over it."

She raised her eyebrow and shoved it back onto the rack.

Amanda offered up another dress. It was the most hideous thing Lily had ever seen.

It was a neon purple, if you could call it that, and it came up about mid calf. But what made it ugly was the puffy sleeves, frilly collars and the horrible way it seemed to puff out around her legs.

With one look at each other the three of them burst out laughing.

After they had recovered from the initial shock of that dress they began to search again. They continued to pull out dresses, insult them and shove them back onto the rack. After fifteen minutes of searching, Lily pulled out the perfect dress and they all scurried back to the dressing rooms.

She slipped it on with ease and stepped out of the stall, she looked like a goddess. Lily knew that if Sirius would have been there he would've snogged her right then and there without any concern for the fellow customers.

Mallory was wearing a beautiful, midnight blue dress that fit her like a dream. It enhanced her every curve and made her smile seem brighter than it already was. The dress was sleeveless and it had a rounded neck line, it had a small dip in the back and an equally small slit on the side. It reached the ground and drug slightly.

Lily smiled, " Yep, this is the one, it looks great."

" Yeah, you look fantastic Mal!" Amanda agreed.

" Thanks guys, alright let's go get your dress robes Mandy" she said enthusiastically.

Mallory stepped back into the dressing room and took off her robes, placing them back on the hanger. When she had came out once again she flattened her hair in the mirror and turned to her friends.

" Okay, you guys go ahead and get a head start while I go pay for this."

Lily nodded and they left the dressing rooms, " We're going to be over on the other side," she said.

Mallory gave her the thumbs up sign and walked up to the counter.

Amanda sighed, " I hope I can find a dress that will fit me as well as the one she got fit her."

" I'm sure you will, here this looks nice," Lily pulled out a silky pink dress with sparkles covering it.

She nodded, " Yeah that one is really nice, I'll try it on, but I want to keep looking. That just doesn't seem to be the one I'm looking for," Amanda said, searching still through the rack.

" Oh, this one's pretty... no it's not, never mind."

Lily laughed and shook her head.

Suddenly Mallory turned the corner and met up with them again, " I found one on my way up here, and it just screamed Mandy."

She handed Amanda the dress and instantly her face brightened, " Oh, yes, this is wonderful. Come on I'm trying these on!" she said full of excitement.

They entered the dressing rooms for the second time, Amanda went into one of the stalls and quickly changed into the first dress they had picked out.

When she stepped out and looked in the mirror she shook her head, " No, this just isn't me."

" Yeah, its a little too loose in all the wrong spots," Mallory agreed clicking her tongue.

Lily waved her hand at her, " Well, go on and try the other on, I'm sure it will fit nicely."

She nodded and went back into the stall. A few minutes later she walked out beaming.

Amanda looked the nicest either of them had seen her look in ages. The robes were a shimmering dark red color with long bell sleeves, it drug on the ground a bit more than Mallory's robes had but that seemed perfect for her height and body structure. This dress also had an extremely low neck line, showing off a fair bit of Amanda's cleavage, which, Lily was sure, Remus would enjoy.

Amanda twirled around a few times and looked toward the girls in approval.

" So,... what do ya think?" she said, still bearing a huge grin.

Lily gave her a hug, " You look beautiful, Mandy!"

" Yeah, absolutely fabulous! There's no doubt that this is the one!" Mallory chirped.

" Okay, my turn!" Lily said, giggling madly.

The girls rolled there eyes and laughed.

" Hurry up and change before she shits herself," Mallory said sarcastically.

Lily shot her a dirty look but then laughed, " Oh, shut up,"

Amanda stepped out of the stall and handed the pink dress to Lily, " Here, be a dear and put this back onto the rack while I go pay for this,"

" Okay, we will be right where we were before," Lily said, starting off eagerly towards the dress robes once more.

Mallory followed close behind, and checked her watch, " Oh my, we have to hurry, its 2:30 and we haven't bought our shoes or picked out purses!"

" Merlin, well we'll just have to hurry up and find my robes then,"

Without another word they began to search. After five minutes of digging through the hangers Amanda and Mallory soon found out that Lily was the hardest girl on the face of God's Green Earth to please. They had gone through at least ten dresses and none of them she liked.

Five more minutes passed... five more... ten more, and then finally Lily screeched and started to dance.

" Yes! This is it, perfect!" Lily shouted from the opposite side of the racks so that the girls didn't even get a chance to see what it looked like.

Mallory sighed, " It's about time!" just as they started to round corner to see it a blur of red flew past them, heading towards the dressing rooms.

Amanda laughed and shook her head, " Wow, it must be a good one!"

" It better be, because I'm not going to look anymore!" she said huffily.

Mallory and Amanda took a seat on one of the small benches in the dressing rooms and waited for her to walk out.

Lily giggled eagerly, " You lot ready?"

In an annoyed voice they replied in unison, " Yes, Lily,"

Lily opened the door slowly and stepped out, sending her friends into a panic attack.

Mallory jumped up and stared at her, " Merlin! Wow! You look beautiful!" She ran up to her and squeezed her.

Amanda stood there wide-eyed, " James, is going to have a fit! I can't believe how wonderful it fits you!"

Lily smiled and turned, she knew she had the best dress robes out of the entire shop and she was ready to show it.

The robes she had picked out were dazzling with each and every move, her eyes seemed to sparkle along with the elegant dress. The robes were white, and covered in sparkles, it was sleeveless and there were two straps that tied behind her neck. It dipped very low in the front, like Amanda's dress had, and it showed off Lily's every curve. It was without a doubt the prettiest, and best fitting dress she had ever worn. Just where the neck line ended there sat a delicate diamond flower, attracting attention to her chest. This would definitely be of James' approval.

It melted into her skin and enhanced her thin waist, which a strap was wrapped around, tying on her side. As she turned around the girls got a view of the back of the dress. Most of the back was open, it slanted downwards in a 'V' shape, showing her clear ivory skin, and it closed at mid back. There was a slit on the side of the dress that went halfway up her right leg, allowing her to move more freely. It was the perfect fit, and the perfect dress robes for a Ball such as this one.

Lily was beaming, every part of her body was glistening with happiness, " I love it! It's perfect! What time is it Mal?" she added as an after thought.

Mallory checked her watch and looked up hastily, " It's three fifteen! We only have fifteen minutes to buy our shoes!"

Amanda looked at them like they were crazy, " That's nearly impossible!"

"No," Lily said, running back into the stall and changing out of her dress robes in record time, " it is impossible if we don't get out of here fast."

XxxxxX

The three of them were now shopping in a shoe store for their... shoes, wow never would've guess that!

Lily had already bought hers, she had picked out a pair of open toed silver strappy heals that matched her dress surprisingly well.

Amanda and Mallory were still looking for their shoes, so Lily went over to the other side of the room and began to look at the jewelry. It really didn't make sense to her why a shoe shop would carry jewelry but, hey, she didn't mind.

Lily picked up a gold locket necklace and scrunched her nose.

_Wow, that's sure ugly, ha, I'd never be caught wearing that thing..._

She walked over to an inclosed case full of beautiful jewelry. Lily scanned the case suddenly gasping and smiling broadly.

_Oh, This one's nice!_

The necklace she was looking at was made almost entirely out of diamonds and emeralds. The chain consisted of a small diamond and then an equally small emerald, then another small diamond and another emerald. It continued that way until it met a beautiful heart shaped pendant in the middle of the necklace that was made of the most eye catching diamond she had ever seen in her life.. She loved it, glancing at the price tag below the beautiful piece, she gasped loudly.

" 3,000 Galleons? Merlin!" she said out loud.

All of the sudden she heard the familiar clicking of heals behind her.

" May I help you ma'am?" a kind old lady asked from behind her, smiling sweetly up at her.

Lily looked down at her sadly, " I'm afraid not, Ma'am, I can't afford this, but it's beautiful. Thanks anyway."

The old woman smiled and nodded, " Yes, many things here are a bit over priced, if I do say so myself. Well," she started turning slightly, " if you need anything just give me a holler, dear."

" Thanks, I will," she replied smiling.

Mallory and Amanda appeared around the corner just as the lady was walking away, they were carrying their shoes in large pink and red striped bags.

" Ready, Lils?" Amanda asked.

She nodded, " Yeah, just a second."

Mallory walked over to her and followed her eyes to the necklace that she had been admiring, " Wow, that's really nice! That would go with your robes really well, Lils."

Lily smiled sadly, " I know, but its 3,000 Galleons,"

Amanda's eyes widened, " Geez, isn't that just a tad pricey?"

She laughed, " Just a little, well, we better go meet up with the guys." Lily picked up her bag and followed the two out of the shop.

" Well," Mallory said, as they turned the busy corner, bumping into a tall dark haired man, " I think we caught some pretty good deals today, don't you?"

Amanda nodded, " Yeah, if we would've gone to Diagon Alley, everything would be twice as expensive."

" I remember when it was cheap there," Lily commented " in our first year everything was perfectly priced but now that,.."

" That everyone is afraid that something is going to happen to their belongings because of Voldemort, they've raised their prices." Amanda finished.

" It's such a shame," Mallory said, sadly, " that stuff like this has to happen."

" Yeah, I know, I don't understand why everyone can't just get along, for Merlin's sake, we only get to live once and they want to screw it up!" Lily agreed.

The three of them turned another corner and searched the busy sidewalk for the guys. Sure enough there they were, chatting animatedly, waiting patiently for the girls.

" Ah," James said smiling as he noticed them coming in their direction, " There you are."

" We were afraid you had decided to eat lunch without us!" Sirius said, leaning down to give Mallory a kiss.

" Nah, we wouldn't miss a lunch date with our men for anything," Amanda said, laughing sarcastically.

" Do you want to go over to the Hogs Head?" asked James, as he transported the girls' bags back to his house.

The three of them nodded, " Yeah, sounds good to me," said Mallory.

XxxxxX

Once at the Three Broomsticks they dashed to the nearest table, since getting one at lunch time was very rare, they had to take one as fast as possible. It was a table for ten, but with Sirius' and James' appetites, they figured a table for ten was barely enough room for their plates.

While they waited for the waitress to come along to their table they talked about where they went shopping and what they did while they were apart. At the moment Lily wasn't talking, but she was listening. She started looking around the large room, just to see if she saw anyone from Hogwarts, and just as she did two of her good friends walked in the door. Alice and Frank Longbottom, they had just been married recently so of course Lily was eager to see them.

Before they had figured out they were witches, Alice and Lily were very close friends, as a matter of fact they had lived about ten minutes away from each other, but when school had started they sort of drifted away. Ever since then they hadn't really spoken much, they still liked each other and got along just fine, as far as Lily knew, but they hadn't been real friends for a very long time.

" James," she whispered in his ear, " I'll be back in a second, Alice and Frank just walked in."

He nodded and continued talking as if she had not said anything, _Only men,_ she thought laughing to herself.

She got up from her seat and rushed over to them, smiling broadly.

" How are we supposed to find a seat in this place?" she heard Alice ask in an aggravated tone.

" Well," Lily said, jumping into the conversation, " you can come sit at our table, ironically we have two seats left!"

Alice turned around and smiled, " Lily Evans! I haven't seen you in ages it seems like!" She gave Lily a hug and grinned.

" I know it's been quite a while, so you guys want to join us?"

" Yeah it sounds good to me, we're never going to find a table for two in this place," Frank agreed.

" But, are you sure the rest of them won't mind?" Alice asked, suddenly turning timid and seeming quite shy.

She rolled her eyes and snorted, " They don't even realize I'm gone, I'm sure if we added the entire school to the table they wouldn't care. Come on,"

Alice smiled sweetly and followed her to the table.

" Hey, guys?" Lily said quietly, no one flinched at all, " Hey... guys!" she said a bit louder and with more attitude.

Once again no one flinch, now her patience was running low, " Hey! You Lot!" that time Sirius about fell out of his seat, since she was standing right behind him.

Sirius turned around and glared at her, " We heard you the first time! You didn't need to bloody scream in my ear, Lily!"

" Oh, really, if you heard me the first time then why didn't you respond?" she squinted her eyes at him and he twitched.

" Sorry, Lily." he said, turning back around quickly.

She smiled in satisfaction and looked at her friends, " Okay, would it be alright with everyone if Alice and Frank sat with us?"

They all nodded and mumbled agreements, " Yeah, that would be fine," James said, finally setting an answer.

She led them over to their seats and slipped in next to James, who then slithered his arm around her waist so that no one would know it was there.

" So, Alice, I haven't talked to you since... oh probably our first year! How have you been?" Lily asked as she leaned into James a little.

Shrugging she replied, " I've been pretty well, although, my mother passed away last year, I dunno if you had heard. Otherwise things have been pretty well, Frank and I have been dating since our fifth year so I've been pretty happy over all." she said, giggling, and kissing his nose.

All three of the girls 'aww-ed' and the guys laughed, making Frank turn red and chuckle lightly.

" Have you two bought a flat or anything yet?" asked Remus.

Frank nodded, " Yeah, right now we live on Rivington Avenue in Diagon Alley, in the small complex, but we have a house being worked on further out in London."

" My father and his parents are building it for us actually." Alice added, " We paid for our own wedding and honey moon, so they decided they would get us the house."

" Well, that sure is sweet of them." Mallory exclaimed.

Amanda opened her mouth to comment but heard the sound of a girl clearing her throat.

They all turned to see the waitress, smiling and holding a pen and a pad of parchment ready to take down orders.

" Sorry, if I'm interrupting anything, I just wanted to see if you had decided what you lot wanted." the brunette said, straighting her dull brown uniform.

" That's quite alright, and yes I think we're all just about ready." Remus said, looking around the table.

They all began to shout out their orders at the girl, in an orderly fashion of course. When they were finished giving the teenager their orders, they went back to their chatting session, laughing merrily. The meals arrived ten minutes later and conversation was cut short for awhile. By the end of the meal Lily felt as if she and Alice had never grown apart for more than a few minutes and she had easily convinced James to invite the couple to the ball. Alice and Frank seemed eager to come... especially Alice, what girl wouldn't? You get to go shopping and get fancy clothes!

As soon as they had finished eating Alice an Frank said good bye, thanking them for paying for the meal. Alice went around giving everyone friendly hugs and thanking them again. Frank did the same but did that sort of, 'manly handshake back slap' thing instead of hugging. Once they were gone and it was just the six of them, since it was only four o'clock they decided to look around for accessories.

James took Lily's hand and led the pack of friends across the street to the jewelry shop. The guys weren't particularly excited, but if it made their girls happy, it would make them happy.

When they entered the building the guys restrained their girlfriends from going wild and running like a crazy pack of wolves.

James looked at them seriously, " Okay, you can have whatever you want, just don't make us carry your purses or be nice to the shop ladies."

Lily laughed and sighed, " Alright, I won't make you carry my purse."

" And you don't have to be nice to the clerks, Sirius."

Sirius punched the air and smiled, " Yes!" he said with relief.

" Alright let's let the poor women go,"

James laughed, " Have fun." he said, smacking her butt and making her grasp it, shriek and jump.

" James!"

He put his hands in the air and shrugged, " It was too tempting."

XxxxxX

The guys hung around, unwillingly giving opinions on pieces of jewelry and eventually being convinced to carry their purses, for a lingering twenty minutes. They all paid for their things and left the store, only to run into another unpleasant surprise; only this was much worse than carrying purses.

Right in front of them walking in their direction was the Slytherin clan, Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa and Bellatrix Black and Severus Snape.

" Well, well, well," Lucius hissed, smirking evilly, " if it isn't Hot shot Potter, and his Mudblood girlfriend! Oh, and look here he even has Traitor and Half breed with him."

**A/N: Well, that took me long enough to update. I hope the length of it was worth the wait, I will do my best to get the next chapter up within the next two weeks. There are going to be some major changes, so prepare yourself for some serious drama. **

**This chapter was officially the longest chapter I've ever written in my entire life, it was 13 pages, and 5230 words. Please give me some feedback, I'm getting really discouraged, but thank you so very very much to the people who do read, and who do review. It means so much to me that you all care enough to read it, and then it means even more when you review.**

**Thanks again!**

**Lissa**


	12. St Mungos

**A/N: I GOT SO MANY REVIEWS! Thank you all so much! I love you all for reviewing like you did, it made me feel so much better. Just a heads up to all of you, I do not know Lily's birthday date, therefore I am making it up so if anyone at all knows when it is please tell me either by email or by review. Thank you all!**

**Oh yeah, and get ready for some serious, fluff, drama, and angst. This is a pretty sad chapter.**

**Chapter 12**

**St. Mungos**

Narcissa flipped her long blinding-silver hair, giggling madly and clinching onto Lucius. He turned to her and scowled warningly, jerking his arm from her grasp. She seemed hurt but let go without any complaints.

James whipped out his wand without hesitation, " How dare you insult Lily like that in front of me." he growled baring his teeth.

At this action Remus and Sirius instantly pulled out their wands, Mallory following. Lily and Amanda had to step back, because unfortunately neither of them were 17, and still unable to use magic. Lily walked over to James and grabbed his arm.

" James, please it really isn't worth it."

" Oh, look, the Mudblood's trying to protect her sissy boyfriend," Severus said, chuckling loudly; his greasy charcoal hair shinning in the dull light of the evening sun.

James turned to him and gave him the dirtiest look he could muster, " I told you, Never to call her that!" before Lily could do anything he had done it, "_oppungo!_" James shouted pointing his wand at a stray cat that was passing by.

The cat jerked slightly and then instantly ran straight at Severus, its claws barred. James smirked angrily as he watched the cat climb up his pants, Snape began to scream and shake his leg as he fell onto the ground and began to roll around violently.

Bella shrieked and glared at James, " You'll be sorry potter," her eyes connected with the ones of Lily raising her wand directly at her she screamed, " _Furnunculus!"_

" _Expelliarmus_" Sirius said, just barely before before the spell could reach Lily.

Her wand whipped out of her hand and went spiraling behind her, slamming into a shop window.

" _Accio Wand,_" Narcissa said, retrieving Bella's wand and giving it back to her.

James turned to Lily and grabbed her arm, " Get out of here Lily, I don't want you to get hurt."

She shook her head and looked at him with sorrow filled eyes, "Please James, don't do this. You might get hurt yourself!"

" I am not going to let them stand there and cut you down like that!" he said squinting his eyes and letting go of her. " Now, go, take Amanda with you. Don't worry about me I can take care of myself."

She turned and grabbed Amanda, but they didn't leave they just acted like it, standing in a alleyway, they watched.

Lucius had gotten the cat off of Snape by now, and both of them were ready to fight. Especially Severus who was angry enough to kill at this point.

He squinted his beady eyes at James and smiled sarcastically, his upper lip curling in a disgusted manner." So, this is how it is, eh Potter? You think you can take us?"

James snapped his head around at him and glared, he lifted his wand higher, " No, I don't think we can, I know we can." He pointed his wand at Narcissa, " _Densa-_"

" _Expelliarmus!_" Severus screamed sending a blinding jet of green light at him.

Lily gasped and put her hand to her mouth, she didn't know what to do. She wished more than anything that she could help, but until her birthday, June 15, she was completely useless.

"_Immobulous_," Remus said, finally stepping up. " Don't even think about it," he said aiming his wand at Bella who was attempting to reverse the charm.

" How dare you speak to me, you _disgraceful_ half-bred! _Incarcerous_,"

Ropes appeared out of thin air, binding Remus tightly. He stumbled and fell to the ground, squirming hard to try and free himself from the tight knot.

Before anymore damage could be done Sirius and Mallory went after Bella, making it clear that she wasn't going to be doing things like that to their friends while they were around. James reversed the binding spell, but was hit in the back with a charm just as Remus was freed.

James' face began to turn red, boils forming slowly across his face. As if the pain were non-existent, he got back up immediately to fight with Lucius.

Remus and James were fighting Lucius and Snape while Mallory and Sirius held off the other two. They could hear two girls screaming and then a loud thud sounded nearby.

After a few minutes of fighting everyone had cleared the streets in fear. Shops had already closed down, because by now it was evening and Hogsmeade completely closed by seven.

Remus and Snape were knocked out cold, laying on the ground from spells that neither of them were able to dodge. It was only James and Lucius now.

Everything was silent, both of them had their wands up and ready to jump at any second. James was slightly distracted because he could hear Sirius and Mallory fighting only a few feet away, and just as soon as Lucius realized this moment of distraction he made his move.

" _Expelliarmus!" _Lucius shouted catching James off guard.

James held onto his wand with all his might, but it didn't work. Just as he wished it wouldn't, his wand flew out of his hands leaving him defenseless. He knew Lucius wasn't going to go easy on him, so he stood tall and squinted his eyes right back at him. Lucius smirked and lifted his wand pointing it at James' neck.

" I've waited for this my entire life, it's just you and me Potter." he drawled slowly

James smiled sarcastically, eying the wand, " You don't scare me, Malfoy, you and your wand can't do any damage to me."

His victorious smirk vanished and was replaced with a look of sheer hatred, " You think so, huh?"

He flicked his wand, "_ Crucio!_"

A jet of light connected with James' chest, he screamed out in pain, crumpling to the ground, unable to regain himself. It felt as if he was on fire, with thousands of knives stabbing him on every inch of his body. He jerked violently, tossing and turning, he could feel ribs snapping right then and there.

Lucius stood above him, laughing in delight as he watched James' face cringe in pain. He said the counter curse and lifted James to his feet by his hair, just before James was about to pass out.

" You still think I cannot harm you? Are you afraid yet?" He sneered.

James grunted and grabbed his side.

Slowly and in short breaths he replied, " As... I've said before... you don't and never... will scare me, Malfoy."

" I guess I have to show you again then," he said heartlessly as yet again he raised his wand, _" Crucio!_"

This time James was ready, he dodged the curse skillfully and ran to his wand as fast as his legs could carry him. He snatched it up out of ashes from a previous spell and turned back to Lucius.

" _Expelliarmus!_" he said viciously.

Unfortunately Lucius was too quick and repelled the spell.

James had heard that he was skilled in dueling, but he had never believed it until now. He always had believed it to be nothing but talk, that all changed as the night unraveled seeming to worsen more each second.

Just then he heard footsteps behind him, he turned unwisely to see who it was, but never actually did because just that second three spells hit him at the same time, knocking him out completely.

Darkness surrounded him and before long so did silence.

XxxxX

Tears streamed down Lily's face as she watched the fight continue endlessly. She wished more and more every second that she had her wand, screw the damn rules all she wanted to do was save James. Amanda was currently holding Lily up, she had already fainted twice from watching James crumple to the ground helplessly and she couldn't bare seeing her friend faint again.

" Don't cry Lily, be strong, it's almost over!" Amanda said reassuringly, hugging her tighter.

Lily screamed as she saw Narcissa and Bella charging towards James, completely ignoring Amanda who was only trying to help.

She jerked from Amanda's grasp and fell to her knees, " NO!" she wailed as she watched James' eyes roll behind his head and fall to the ground for the second time.

Narcissa and Bella kicked James a few seconds later to see if he was knocked out and looked up at Lucius nodding. All three of them apparated away, taking Severus with them.

Once they had gone Lily flew over to James' unconscious body, her tears cascading heavily down her cheeks.

" James..." she whispered, touching his face gently which was covered in blood and large red boils. " I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry," she repeated helplessly.

Lily heard quick foot steps behind her, but she didn't move she just kept stroking his head.

" Oh my god, what happened!" she heard Mallory say.

Sirius walked up to James and shook him by the shoulders, " He's out, we have to get him to St. Mungos immediately. Amanda, can you go help Remus?" He asked, noticing Remus trying to get to his feet.

Amanda nodded and went over to Remus.

Mallory pulled Lily to her feet and hugged her, " Everything will be alright, Lils, they'll take good care of him. But you need to stop crying, James wouldn't like to see you like this now would he?"

After a brief moment Lily shook her head in response and turned to Sirius with tears still brimming her emerald eyes.

" We better hurry if we want to get him there before," she said regaining her self and gulping down a lump in her throat, " before he gets ... worse."

Remus hobbled over to them, " Is James alright?"

Mallory shook her head, " No, he got hit with the Crucatius curse by three different people all at the same time."

" Well, then," Remus said, " Let's get James to St. Mungos, Mallory, Amanda I need you to go back to James' house and prepare a room for him if he is well enough to come home, Sirius, Lily and I are going to go with him."

The girls nodded Mallory grabbed Amanda's shirt sleeve and waved to them, " I'm sure everything will be alright Lily, remember to be strong," she then closed her eyes and with a pop they were gone.

" Alright let's go,"

Sirius took hold of James, and Remus took Lily's arm with another pop they apparated to the magical hospital.

XxxxX

When they entered the large brick building they ran as fast as possible to the front desk. Despite the obvious hurry they were in all of the nurses were currently busy so they had to wait. After about five minutes of them all chatting on the phone Lily had had enough.

" Excuse me! But we have an injured man here! I would like some service, NOW!" She flared angrily.

A young woman about the age of 20 sent her a dirty look and walked over, " What do you need?"

" A room with a healer would be nice!" Lily said sarcastically, " Isn't that usually why people come here?"

The brunette shot her another nasty look and picked up a pad and a quill, " What's the problem?"

Lily rolled her eyes, " HE. IS. HURT!" Sirius grabbed her arm to stop her from attacking the woman.

" I'm sorry ma'am this just so happens to be her boyfriend and she's a bit shaken." he whispered so that he wouldn't further anger Lily.

The woman nodded, and glance over at Lily as if she were insane. She was being calmed down by Remus just then ," Understood, but what's the situation? Does he have broken bones, or is he unconscious?"

" Well, as far as I can see..." Sirius said looking at her worriedly, " both."

The woman bit her lip and nodded, " Oh, dear, well follow me then."

She hurried out from behind the desk and shuffled down the corridor to their left.

Sirius said a charm and James floated in front of the three of them. They passed many rooms, glancing in they saw varieties of patients. Some of them looked as if they had tried to transform into their animagi but had only succeed in transforming the lower part of their body. Others had deep cuts or scratches on their arms and faces.

The further they walked down the corridor the worse the injuries became. Finally when they reached the last room the woman stopped and ushered them in.

" Here you are, Room 307." she pulled out her wand and levitated James' unconscious body onto the sterile white hospital bed.

" A healer will be in soon. If you need anything just ask for Natty, that would be me."

Sirius smiled and thanked her kindly, she nodded towards him and closed the door behind her respectively.

Clearing his throat Remus placed his hand on Lily's shoulder. " Sirius and I are going to go back to the Mansion for awhile, we'll be back in the morning, someone has to keep an eye on the girls. Will you be alright here by yourself?"

She looked up at him and glanced back down at James, " Yeah, I'll be fine."

They gave her one last smile before they apparated away, leaving Lily and James alone.

When they had left she looked around the white room and shivered, wishing that James were awake so that he could hold her close and tell her that everything would be alright. But for all she knew, she would never hear his voice again. Lily would never accept that thought though even if the situation turned out to be that way.

Walking to the corner of the room she drug a white uncomfortable-looking chair next to James' bed.

Looking down at him only made tears well up in her eyes again.

" Oh, James..." She whispered, taking his limp hand into hers and stroking his dust filled hair.

Looking over his body she could tell instantly where the main damages were. His arm, the one she was not holding, was completely broken. She gagged at the sight of the bone protruding from his skin, his entire arm was black and blue with blood covering most of the skin.

The door to the room swung open and in came three woman healers that looked as if they were around the ages of forty to forty-five. They wheeled in a large cart with many different vials full of odd colored liquids and packets of strange chemicals that Lily had never heard of before.

They instantly got to work, examining every inch of his body.

One of the women walked over to her and smiled gently up at her, " Miss, I am going to have to ask you to leave the room while we are working on him."

Lily gave her a hurt look and nodded.

The woman reached out to her with her slightly wrinkled hand and patted her arm, " I know you would like to stay and I would surely let you, but it is part of the policy here. I really am sorry Ma'am."

" No, really it's fine. I understand."

With that Lily left and hurried down the hall and into the empty waiting room.

XxxxX

The waiting room was just as dull and creepy as James' room had been. It was painted a yellowish green color with gray carpeting that reminded her of cement. The room was full of very uncomfortable hard wooden chairs, that looked as if they would make every inch of your body hurt.

She sat in one of these hard wooden chairs for two hours without moving and sure enough it was the most uncomfortable chair she had ever sat in.

Her legs were curled up to her chest and her arms were wrapped around her legs, securing them in the position. Lily forced her tired eyes to stay open, she looked at the clock across the room and to her dissatisfaction it was already 11:00.

She wondered to herself what was taking so long, and why it was taking so long. Was he dieing? Or was it something simple like them forgetting a certain potion that took a while to make? She didn't care what it was, she was just tired of worrying that he was on the edge of life.

Lily sat for yet another hour before hearing any news on how he was doing. At about twelve thirty the plump short woman who had asked her to leave earlier walked into the waiting room with an expression that Lily couldn't detect.

She jumped up from her chair and walked over to the woman.

" Is he alright? What's wrong with him? Is he awake yet? Can I go see him!" she said, shooting out questions faster than the poor woman could answer them.

She put her hands up and shook her head. " One thing at a time. Walk with me, will you?"

The woman turned and talked as they walked back to the room.

" I have both good and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" She asked, shuffling along quite fast for her large size.

Lily bit her lip, " Good, .. please."

The woman took a deep breath, " Well, the good news is that he is awake and stable."

Lily smiled and sighed a breath of relief.

" Also that he only has six injuries, considering the fact that the Crucatius Curse hit him four times."

" Six!" Lily exclaimed, sending herself into her worried stage again.

The friendly woman nodded, " Yes, Three broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a shattered collar bone and his left arm is broken in five places."

Lily gasped, " Oh my... That's horrible!"

" Indeed, it is, Miss. He seems to be a nice boy too, are you his sister?"

She laughed and shook her head, " Oh, no, no, I am his girlfriend."

The woman nodded and smiled, " I see, that's why you are so frantic."

She blushed and shrugged.

"Well, don't fret because all of this will be handled and whoever caused this will be taken to trial soon enough."

" Anyway. The bad news. Ah, well, he has to stay in here until Thursday, a week from now. It takes a week for the collapsed lung to completely heal itself and to return to its stable condition."

" Even with the advanced spells and potions you have?" she asked in bewilderment.

" Yes, I'm afraid we don't have any type of cure that will work faster than that for such a serious case. Will you be staying here with Mr. Potter?" the kind lady asked as they approached his room.

She shrugged, " I think I will. But if he wants me to leave then I'll go. Can I answer that later?"

The woman nodded kindly and opened the door for her, " Surely, I'll be back in an hour."

" Thank you... Miss...?"

" Call me Alice."

Lily smiled, " Thank you Alice, it's been a pleasure."

Alice smiled and walked out of the room, once again leaving Lily and James alone.

" Lily... is that you?" she heard a weak voice say, just before it began to cough violently.

She walked up to his bed and pulled over a chair again, looking down at his frail frame and smiling sadly.

She ran her hand through his hair and kissed his forehead gently, " Shh, yes it's me. Don't talk if it hurts."

James' chocolate eyes stared up at her weakly, and without energy, but full of love and concern.

He wheezed and took a deep breath, " You weren't hurt were you?"

She shook her head, " No, although I'd rather it be me than it be you. I'm so sorry James, I wish I could've helped."

" No, don't be sorry my Lily Flower," he reached out to her with his good arm and she took his hand, " nothing is your fault."

Lily looked away and focused on the opposing wall, fighting back warm tears that wanted to fall. She had never seen him so helpless and weak before, he had always been the strong one even when they were only friends, and she didn't like it one bit this way. Now he seemed old, he was extremely pale and his normal giddiness was gone.

As she looked over him she noticed what had been worked on and what they had done. It didn't seem to her that they had done much work at all.

His arm was healed but it was still black and blue. James had several different vials of medication that he was due to take at certain times for his shattered collar bone, which was wrapped in gauze, and his three broken ribs. All of the boils on his face were gone, but some of the cuts weren't entirely healed, most of them were only faint marks, but some still bled lightly.

James looked up at her and squeezed her hand, " Don't be repulsed by me, and don't pity me. I went out there for you, and I don't regret it. He deserved it all... eventhough he did win." he chuckled lightly, only sending him into another fit of coughs.

She met his eyes and couldn't hold it in any longer, the tears started to flow freely and continued to flow without stopping. Like he had said he went out there for her, and now look what condition he was in.

" Oh, Lily, don't cry. Please don't cry." James said letting go of her hand and wiping her tears away.

In anger and frustration she turned from him and stormed to the other side of the room so that her back was facing him.

" James I can't help it! What am I supposed to do, sit here and look at you and smile. This is _my_ fault, if you weren't dating me none of this would've happened."

He lowered his head and sighed, " Lily come over here, sit with me." James offered patting the empty space next to him.

Lily shook her head, " No, I might end up hurting you more."

" Please? It really doesn't hurt, they gave me medication so I can't feel pain right now. It's only a bit harder to breath, but they said that would go away in about a half hour." he said in a pleading tone.

Lily hated it when he talked to her like that, it made her heart ache and her stomach flip flop. In one swift movement she went back over to the bed and sat down on the edge.

She felt his hand rub her back comfortingly, " Everything is fine, everything will be okay. Look on the bright side I'll be out before the Ball!"

A long silence filled the room and then Lily sniffled and wiped her tears laughing lightly, " I guess you're right." she turned and looked at him.

" Lay down, I won't bite." he said quietly, giving her his signature smirk.

The redhead grinned back at him and snuggled up next to him, being very careful not to hurt him. James put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head softly.

After another long comfortable silence Lily spoke up.

" This is one of those days where you could swear you were living in hell." she said straight faced and quite serious.

James chuckled and nodded, " Yeah I guess you could say that."

A knock sounded at the door and Lily got up off of the bed, she knew it would be Alice.

" Come in," James said, politely.

Alice walked in and smiled, " Feeling any better Mr. Potter?"

James smiled, " Please call me, James. And yes, actually, the problem breathing is becoming much better."

Alice grinned and turned to Lily, who she noticed seemed very tired.

" Will you be staying here or going back home?" she asked.

Lily looked at James and then back at Alice, " I think I'll just stay here."

The middle aged woman took her wand out of her pocket and with the simple flick of it another bed, appeared. " There you go! If you need anything I'll be in room 110."

" Thanks again Alice."

" No, problem get some rest dear, you look awfully tired and stressed."

The door clicked lightly behind her and Lily walked over to her bed, stripping the covers off.

James looked at her curiously, " What the bloody are you doing?"

She smirked, " Getting ready for bed of course! I'm really tired."

" Why are you taking the blankets off if you are getting ready for bed?" He asked, now even more confused.

Lily gathered her blankets and pillows and walked over to James' bed.

" I'm not sleeping alone."

A look of realization came over him, " I should've known," he said laughing.

Carefully she crawled under the covers and rested her head on the pillow. James' arm took place around her waist again and Lily turned out the lights.

James kissed Lily on the lips and rubbed her shoulder, " G'night, Lils,"

" Goodnight." she replied in half yawn.

Lily intertwined her fingers with his lovingly, and without a care in the world they closed their eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

It seemed that this was how it was meant to be, Lily and James forever together. They fit together like a puzzle piece, and without the other they were never complete.

**A/N: Aww, how sappy. Lol I hope you all liked it! Please give me some feedback, your reviews always cheer me up!**

**Love,**

**Lissa.**


	13. Preparing

**A/N: Thanks to all of my reviewers I love how everyone is giving me some feedback. I would thank all of you right here, but unfortunately I can't do that. **

**Everyone seems to think the last chapter was the end of my story. And that is completely wrong! I am not going to be ending this story any time soon, I plan on writing 30 to 40 chapters.**

**Chapter 13**

**Preparing**

A few days passed and Lily returned to the Mansion to begin the cleaning and decorating for the Ball which would be held the following day. She, herself was not doing the decorating because James' family was quite rich and along with that came house elves, willing to work for the generous family. Even though she was not decorating she still needed to guide the house elves as they worked away.

James was doing much better since the first day he was placed in room 307, which was later to be found as one of the intensive care units in St. Mungos. His lungs were almost entirely healed from the horrible battle, and each and every scrape, boil, and scar was completely diminished within the first two days of staying there.

Lily spent all of her free time at the magical hospital talking to James and filling him in on the things that were happening back at his home, but she never stayed longer than three hours. She was determined to have everything perfect for James' return, even though he would be back to his healthy self she didn't want him to be stressed with work we he came back.

Currently she was bustling about the Ballroom, which was just off the main hall, instructing the house elves. With only a day left she still had many finishing touches to make.

" This rug, Miss, Rita doesn't know where to put this rug," a young elf said timidly waving an elegant rug in front of Lily.

Lily pointed to the lounging area in the far back of the room, " Over there please Rita, thank you." She said smiling kindly and then moving on to the next elf.

Sirius walked into the large room and raised his brow.

" Wow, you think James' family has enough elves?" he asked Lily who was rubbing her temples and sighing heavily.

She looked around and watched the fifty or so little creatures scatter around, snapping their small fingers and waving miniature wands.

Lily looked at him tiredly and shrugged, " I don't mind them, actually I pity them, at least they're being paid. My only problem with them is their continuous question asking."

She leaned her head on his shoulder, " Sirius, I think I'm going to crack," Lily laughed lightly.

Sirius gave her a hug and ruffled her hair.

" Why don't you go take a break and visit your dearly beloved. I can handle this while you're gone."

She looked at him hopefully and looked up towards the heavens, " Thank Merlin..." Lily muttered, smiling at Sirius again.

" Thanks Sirius, you're fantastic." she said pecking him on the cheek in a friendly matter and scurrying towards the double doors.

Sirius bowed as she ran past him and smirked, " I know I am, but don't tell James that!"

She shook her head and laughed, " You're such a git!" she bellowed across the ballroom.

Lily giggled and turned around, running into Mallory.

" Ow!" she said rubbing her nose, " Lily you have a bad reputation of slamming into people!"

" Oh, sorry Mal." She apologized as she walked past her, " Hey, can you apparate with me to St. Mungos? Sirius is giving me a while off." she added as an after thought.

Mallory sighed, " Again? Oh, alright."

Agreeing with her she took her arm and closed her eyes, with a pop and the uncomfortable feeling of being squeezed through a tiny straw Lily was soon standing outside of James' room.

" Thanks, give me about two hours?" Lily asked, smiling at Mallory.

In understanding she just nodded and apparated back to the Mansion.

Lily turned back to the tall door and knocked lightly.

" Come on in, it's open." She heard James' voice say cheerfully from the other side of the door.

She walked in and was overcome with a wonderful sight, James was sitting in the corner of the room in a lounging chair by the open window reading while getting some fresh air. He was finally out of bed.

Lily smiled warmly at him as he slowly marked the page and closed the book.

" Oh," he said in surprise, " Lily, it's you. Come over here," James said offering his lap to her.

She walked over to him briskly and sat on his lap carefully.

He wrapped his strong arms around her slim waist and kissed her forehead, " I missed you." James said softly.

She laughed and leaned into him.

" But I was here just last night!"

He smirked, " Which is much too long for us to be apart."

Lily laughed again, " We're hopeless you know."

" Yeah, it's just a bit obvious."

Smiling, she looked out the open window and felt a light breeze brush against her cheek, which was blowing the sterile white curtains around gently. James tightened his grip around her waist as she laid her head on his shoulder.

" How's the decorating coming along?"

Lily yawned and rolled her eyes, " Stressfully. But I'm nearly done. Sirius has taken over for a while though, he noticed that I needed to get away."

James sighed, " You really didn't need to do anything. I'm coming home tonight, you know. Did I tell you?"

Lily's face lit up and she looked at him in shock. "

" Really?" she asked, as if he were bluntly lying to her.

James rolled his eyes, " I could've sworn I told you! I'm sorry I've known since yesterday."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and came down on his lips, " Oh, James this is wonderful!"

" Yeah," he said after she had let up on him. " I have to take a few tests to see if I'm fully healed and I'm outta here."

Lily beamed from ear to ear, but suddenly her smile faltered and instantaneously this was noticed by James.

" What's wrong Lils? Did I say something?" He asked in a concerned tone that matched his expression.

She shook her head, " Oh, no I was just thinking about Lucius and his little followers. Do you know when the trial will be held?"

He nodded, " Yes, June 12. All of us have to be there because we were witnesses,"

" Are you going to be tried?" she asked, not knowing if he had used unforgivable curses that could have him put into Azkaban for the rest of his life.

" No, not as far as I know. But I can guarantee that Lucius' father is going to try and sue me for starting all of it,"James frowned grimly, and watched as Lily's face paled.

" But don't worry, I'm not going to let them take me in." He said, flashing her a reassuring smile.

That didn't seem to comfort her much, although it did help a little.

" James," she said, standing up and grasping her stomach. " I have a bad feeling about all of this, like nothing will ever be normal again."

He walked up behind her and snaked his arms around her waist, nuzzling his chin into her soft neck. " Oh, Lily, don't think like that! I'm sure everything will turn out fine." he kissed her cheek and smiled.

Seeing as this wasn't helping at all he decided he would have to change the subject.

" What d'you say we go get a bite from the Cafe on the first floor? I've heard the food is pretty good."

Lily immediately noticed this sly trick of his and acted as if she had fallen for it. Plastering a fake smile on her face she sighed.

" Yeah, it's almost dinner time. Are you sure you're okay to go?"

He chuckled and took her hand, " I'm perfectly fine, now enough worrying about me! Let's get something to eat."

XxxxxX

After sharing a casual dinner with James and kissing him goodbye Mallory apparated with Lily back to the mansion.

Lily made her way to the Ballroom to check up on how things were going. When she walked in she smiled and sighed. Everything was in place.

Lights were hung on the ceiling making the illusion of there being a huge sparkling spider web dangling above them. The large chandeliers where polished and hung also. The lounging area in the back of the room was perfect, all of the couches were in place and the bar was prepared for use as well. A section in the back left of the overly large room was cleared and set up for the classical band that would be arriving at 4:00 the next day, since the ball would begin at five they needed a while to practice before the performance.

" Did I do as bad as you presumed a would?" she heard Sirius say sarcastically from behind her.

Lily grinned and shook her head, " No, actually you did quite well."

He nodded, "Thank you. So how's James doing?"

" You're welcome. Very well, he needs to take a few tests to be able to leave, but he will be back tonight in about..." she lifted her wrist and checked her silver watch. " a half hour."

It was only nine o'clock but both Sirius and Lily were exhausted.

" It will be great to have the ol' bloke back."

She smiled, " Definitely."

Just then Amanda and Mallory walked in looking quite pleased with themselves considering the large smirks they held on their faces.

With a questioning look Lily asked, " What have you two been doing?"

Amanda smiled pointing across the room at two tall glass doors that were covered with heavy blue drapes that matched the midnight blue paint on the ballroom walls.

" Why don't you go check out the garden..."

Lily having never even known there was a garden looked shocked, " Uh, James has a garden?" she asked.

Mallory sighed and shook her head, " No, Amanda just likes saying things that don't make any sense!" Lily didn't seem to catch on so again she sighed, " Yeah, dumb ass he has a garden! Go look at it, we spent two hours working on it, and that was with the help of my wand and forty seven house elves."

Obediently she waltzed over to the door and pulled on the thick golden handles. Creaking loudly they swung open revealing the most beautiful garden she had ever set eyes on.

About twenty feet in front of her, and at least a half story high stood a magnificent fountain made of white marble. It sat on a extravagant aisle-way made of a series of different colored bricks of all different shapes and sizes. The path led from the door way, to the fountain, and off into three different directions from there. Water shot up out of it in several jets, seeming to reach the sky and fell back down into the pool of water with a rushing sound, much like the sound of a heavy rain. Many spotlights were set around it so that the streams of water could be seen in the dark. There was a two foot wall of the same white marble that went around the giant fountain made for a place for visitors to sit.

This fountain, although eye-catching and extremely beautiful, was not the only wonderful thing about this garden which seemed to extend to the end of the property.

Neatly trimmed rose bushes lined the brick path and set off different sections of the garden. On the right hand side there were two benches, that would be commonly found in neighborhood parks. On either side of the benches there stood a plant potted in a golden vase.

On the left hand side of the garden there were no potted plants or benches, but there was an outdoor dinning table covered in a creamy white table cloth and around the table sat two wooden chairs that looked as if they were hand carved.

An arrangement of colorful trees, bushes and patches of both wild and planted flowers were all a part of the beautiful background that could be seen if you were to walk around the fountain.

Lily found her mouth open after she had taken all of it in, from the calming background to the rushing fountain she was mesmerized at the beauty of it all.

Turning around she found the same two smirking faces staring back at her.

" Merlin! It's amazing!" she said, still in shock.

Mallory giggled, " I know..."

Laughing the three of them walked back into the Mansion and closed the doors.

" I don't know how you managed to get all of that done.. even with a wand and, what did you say? Forty some odd elves,"

" Forty-seven, and neither do we! It seemed to take forever though, Mallory, being the smart one she is..." Amanda said giving Mallory a scolding look, who laughed cautiously and shrugged, " almost forgot to go back and get you."

Lily shook her head, " We always knew you were a little on the slow side," she said as she began to walk across the never ending dance floor.

" Hey!" Mallory said offensively, " Now that's not quite fair! Who is the one here who got herself stuck in a toilet her second year? Hmm?"

Looking very upset as she turned around Lily said, " That's not fair, you can't use that against me because all of the other lavatories were either under repair or too far away!"

By this time Amanda was laughing hysterically at the two bellowing girls.

" Oh, give it up, we're all dumb, okay?"

Lily rolled her eyes, " Fine whatever." She started into the front room and turned to go up the stairs, " I'm going to my room, when James comes home tell me, alright?"

" Sure, we'll be in the kitchen with the elves, we have to get started on the food. We have lots of it to make."

Smiling at the two Lily made her way up the staircase, rubbing her sore eyes. It seemed to be a lifetime before she had finally reached her room. She sat down on the edge of her bed and sighed, it had been a long day she couldn't wait until everything was back to normal.

Suddenly her eyes widened. James' parents would be there for the ball, what would she say? What if they didn't like her?

A million questions flew across her mind, making her head hurt.

" Ahh," she moaned in annoyance.

Deciding that she needed to relax she went to her bathroom and started up the water to her bathtub and adding soothing bubbles to the water. Lily stripped of all her cloths and sunk into the warm water, thankful for having her own bathroom.

Ten minutes later she stepped out and towel dried off, looking in the steam-covered mirror she could see the dark bags under her eyes. She wrapped a towel around her hair and body and walked into her room.

Lily walked across her room and into the large closet that had been provided for her. After fumbling through the many drawers for a few minutes she pulled out a green tank top and silky pants to match. She changed into these and went back into her room. When she had brushed her hair out and had placed the wet towels back into the bathroom on the towel rack she flung herself onto her bed with a book.

It took her about three minutes of reading before she had fallen asleep, the clock beside her read 9:48, exactly the time that James arrived back home.

XxxxX

After passing the necessary tests, James apparated back to his home. When he entered the Mansion Sirius, Remus, Amanda, and Mallory all filed out of the kitchen doorway. The girls ran up to him and suffocated him in bear hugs.

" It's so good to have you back!" Amanda said, ruffling his hair.

He smiled back at her and looked around at Sirius and Remus, " How're you feeling mate?" Remus asked as he clapped him on the shoulder.

" Better, much better, how're you doing?"

" Good," Remus and Amanda turned to go back to the kitchen.

Mallory smiled, " We're all happy to have you back, James, Lily's upstairs. It's been a rough day for her."

After everyone had left Sirius played his part, including : squealing, 'Jamsie-poo-ing' and girlish hugging.

James just laughed and threw Sirius off of him, he rolled his eyes and smirked, " Great to see you too mate,"

Sirius chuckled and slapped James upside the head, " Go up at see your lover, she's been waiting for you."

He smirked cockily and made his way up the stairs, upon reaching Lily's room he stopped in shock. James had expected the door to be open, but it was firmly shut and locked.

He muttered the unlocking charm and peaked in. James smiled to himself at what he saw.

Lily was curled up in the middle of her bed with a book laying open on her chest. He walked up to her bed and sat down gently on the side. From past experience he decided not to try and wake her. He leaned down and kissed her forehead, making her stir. James jumped off the bed, afraid that she might hit him again, but she didn't. She opened her eyes and looked towards him.

Lily smiled and yawned " Hey, why are you over there?"

He shrugged, " Safety precaution,"

She laughed, " Come over here,"

James did as he was told and laid himself down beside her, " I just wanted to let you know I was back, I think I'm going to get to bed myself."

Lily shook her head, " Don't go," she mumbled sleepily as her eyes began to close, her hand wandered over to his waist and pulled him closer to her. She could smell his distinct scent, she loved it, and yet she had no idea what it was. Lily nuzzled her head into his chest and sighed.

" But, I have to, I need sleep. And you do too." James replied, running his hand through her hair.

She looked up at him, " Stay with me. There's plenty of room for two."

His eyes widened, she never ceased to amaze him. Not once had a girl said those words to him, normally it was him finding that coming out of his mouth.

" Not for that, just to sleep," she said noticing the shocked look he held on his face.

An expression of disappointment crossed his face briefly before he smiled and nodded, " Can I get changed first?"

" Yeah,"

Lily let go of him and tumbled off the bed, she pulled back the covers and slid under them. Looking up she noticed that James was still standing there.

" I thought you were going to change." she said, looking at him curiously.

He nodded and pulled off his shirt, exposing his chiseled chest and well defined abs. Lily gasped and had to look away to keep control of herself, when she glanced back he had taken off his pants and was climbing back into bed.

She didn't move over to him, she just laid there, facing the opposite direction. Lily couldn't move, if she did she would find James laying there with nothing but boxers on, and she knew she might not be able to keep herself from doing something she may regret later on.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and bit her lip.

" Are you going to turn over?" she heard James ask.

Sighing she nodded and turned, there he was nothing but boxers, right next to her.

A hurt look crossed his angelic face as he looked over at her." What's wrong?"

Lily smiled and laughed, " Nothing, you're just... not... well, in your.. I mean it's hard... uh..."

It took a few seconds for it to kick in, but when it did he began to laugh hysterically. This didn't make anything better Lily just frowned and looked away.

" It's not funny, James,"

" I get it, I'm so sexy that you can't handle looking at me without losing control."

She turned to him and shot him a dirty look, before getting up and walking into the closet.

" Two can play at this game!" She shouted from behind the door.

Thinking that she wasn't coming back, a rush of guilt came over him, " I'm sorry Lily, come back, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

She laughed to herself as she reappeared, looking much different.

James' mouth fell open as he looked across the room at her.

Lily stood there proudly as his hungry eyes scanned her well toned body. She was dressed in a thin pink gown, made of silk that fell to her mid thighs and had a very low neck line.

She sauntered over to the bed and crawled under the covers. James was still looking at her like a hungry dog with a huge steak dangling in front of his face.

" Now that isn't fair, Lily." he smirked as he crawled over to her and pinned her underneath him, " You _know_, I can't control myself."

She giggled and leaned up, kissing him lightly on the lips purposely to make him want more, " You'll have to learn then." she whispered seductively.

He let go of her and rolled over to her side, " I did have to pick you for my girlfriend didn't I?" he asked as he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

She smiled, " What is that supposed to mean?" Lily wrapped her arms around his neck and began to twirl his hair around her fingers.

" I picked the most beautiful, irresistible one of them all," he whispered in her ear just before he began to kiss her neck.

She laughed and turned her head to meet his lips, suddenly she stopped and looked straight into his eyes.

" James, can I ask you something?" she said seriously.

He looked back at her, with concern, " Anything."

" This may sound dumb but do you, .. like me, or is all of this just lust?"

James seemed to be thinking about this, he looked back at her and said, " No, I don't."

She was hurt at his response, and tears began to brim her eyes, " Well, um, do you think I'm pretty then?"

Once again he seemed to think about this, " No, I don't."

She looked at him in shock, but pressed on, these three questions had been haunting her for some time now, and she needed to know the answer.

" Alright, well, if I died right now would you be sad?"

Without hesitation on this he shook his head, " No."

Lily glared at him and got out of bed, tears ran down her face like a waterfall, she couldn't believe what he had said. She just stared back at him with hate written all over her face. He got up and walked over to her.

" Don't you even touch me, Potter." she growled.

He shook his head, " No, Lily, you don't understand, let me explain."

She smiled sarcastically at him, " Oh, I understand completely what you mean."

James shook his head again, " No you don't. Lily I don't like you, I love you." He said as he kissed away a tear on her face.

Her heart flip flopped at this, as she searched his face for any trace of a lie, but there was nothing there but truth.

" You, what?"

" I love you, more than I've loved anyone, the feeling I get when I see you is no where close to just liking you, I love you with all of my heart." He said, taking her in his arms, " And I don't think you're pretty, you're beautiful, inside and out. No matter what I'll always think you're beautiful, but never pretty, pretty doesn't express the way I see you."

Lily looked up at him and for the millionth time was shocked.

He lowered his voice and became very serious looking her straight in the eye he said, " And I would not be sad if you died. Lily, if you died I would be scarred for life, I couldn't live without you in my arms. Without you by my side I wouldn't be able to carry on. I would dedicate the rest of my life to sitting by your grave, I love you so much Lily. And it's taken too long for me to realize it."

" Oh, James, I love you too." she said through tears of happiness.

James smiled down at her and crashed his lips down onto hers. It felt so good to finally get it out, and to know that she felt the same way. Things between them would never be the same again, returning to being friends would never be a possibility again.

**A/N: Okay, I know this chapter sucked, but I hope you enjoyed it a little. I've been very sick lately... I still am, and it's kept me from writing. The next chapter will be about the ball. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Please review!**

**Thanks a Bunch,**

**Lissa**


	14. Just Before The Ball

**A/N: I am soooo sorry for the long long wait. I had a rough time getting this finished. I know I said this one would be the ball, but I couldn't fit it all in so I have to make it two chapters. I promise to get the other one out asap, my life is very busy right now and I'm doing the best I can. I hope you'll all forgive me for the long wait. Oh yeah, and I apologize in advance for spelling and grammar errors, I do use spell check surprisingly, and I do reread it but sometimes that just doesn't work. **

**Enjoy...**

**Chapter 14**

**Just Before The Ball**

The next morning came too quickly for both Lily and James and the thought of waking up angered the pair, but the fact that James' parents would be arriving at noon woke them immediately. James was the one to get up first and one glance at the clock made him jump out of bed and head for his room despite his grogginess.

Lily's eyes popped open instantly as she felt the bed jolt and heard a door slam, she turned over and noticed that James was gone. Finding this extremely unusual, as she was normally the one to wake first she got up as well.

" What the hell..." she muttered as she stretched and swung her feet over the edge of the bed.

As she was yawning she caught sight of the clock and jumped in alarm.

" 11:35?"

Lily ran to the closet and began searching for an outfit to wear before having to change into her Ball robes a few hours later.

Before a single minute could pass she had her outfit and was in the showers, and just as fast as she had begun she had finished. Lily dressed and rapped a towel around her head, forming a turban type thing. She was afraid she wouldn't have time to be... presentable in front of his parents, who were very popular in the wizarding world, so she constantly found herself checking the time.

11:40... drying hair... 11:47... applying make up... 11:48... looking for lost mascara brush... and it continued like that, annoyingly, almost, until her hair was completely straight, and her make up was just right.

Lily looked in the mirror and smiled in approval, she had picked the most conservative, but at the same time- stylish, clothes she could find.

She wore a blue tank under a white button up shirt, which she left unbuttoned. With the upper outfit she wore new jeans that had not yet faded and were free of holes, Lily also had a long white necklace that she had draped around her neck twice and it still fell below her chest. Her hair was pulled half back with a few strands of her hair framing her face and her make up consisted of mascara and a light pink lip gloss that looked nearly clear.

As she was smoothing her hair she heard her bedroom door slam open and heavy breathing enter her room.

" Lily! My parents are here!" said James franticly.

Lily made a point to seem extra calm as she walked from her bathroom and over to where he was standing. This was very hard for her, considering the small fact that she had never met any of her boyfriends' parents before.

" Geez, calm down, you sound like you expected me to still be in bed or something."

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed, " I did,..."

She laughed and took his hand and walked out of the room with him.

" You have no faith in me, James, absolutely none."

" What?" he asked in shock " Of course I do."

Lily shoved him playfully and stopped in front of him with a smile on her face.

" You seriously need to loosen up, James, I was only kidding."

" Sorry, I'm just a little nervous."

" Why? It's not like they've never met one of your girlfriends before." she said shaking her head and making her hair fan out around her. " Relax.

He smiled as he thought of what he really wanted to say, _'No, not the girl I plan on marrying someday.'_ but instead out came, " No, not really, you're the first _serious_ girlfriend I've ever had."

Lily leaned up and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

" Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be okay, I'll be good," she said with a smirk.

He elbowed her playfully and kissed her back, " Why would I want you to be good?"

" There we go, the pervert's back."

Now that the spirits of both of them were lightened a bit, even though they were both scared to have that chat with James' parents, they continued downstairs where they would find Mr. and Mrs. Potter sitting next to each other on the medium sized sofas.

Sirius, Mallory, Remus and Amanda were sitting on the couch across from them, leaving Lily and James to sit next to James' parents.

But something took Lily by surprise when she entered the room and saw his parents stand up in greeting them, it was Mrs. Potter and the way she looked.

Lily gaped at James for a second and then looked at his mother. Mrs. Potter was a little taller than Lily, and looked much like her from a distance. She had long dark red hair and green eyes. It had never occurred to Lily that it was possible for a child with black hair to have a parent with red hair, James had gotten his hair color... and the unruly way it stood up without any possible way of controlling it, from his father.

Mr. Potter, unsurprisingly, looked almost exactly like James, so when they stood together across from each other it looked as if there were a mirror in between the couples. The only difference was Lily's hight and their ages.

James' mother ran up to James and hugged him like she hadn't seen him in years.

" Er, missed you too mum,"

Mrs. Potter smiled and kissed her sons' cheek, " It's great to be back even if it is only for a few days."

James' father then gave him a slight hug and ruffled his hair, " Nice to see you son, but you seriously need a hair cut," he waved his wand and James' long black hair shortened considerably and gelled itself.

James smiled and nodded, " Great to see you too pop, thanks for the hair cut... it.. probably.. looks good."

Mr. Potter then extended his hand to Lily and smiled, " You must be the Lily that James always talks about."

She smiled back at him and smirked up at James, " Nice to meet you, Mr. Potter."

" Oh, please you don't have to call me Mister," He laughed " That makes me sound old, call me Harold, or Mr. P, which ever."

Lily nodded and let go of his firm grasp.

Mrs. Potter smiled, showing Lily the same bright straight teeth that James had inherited.

" Hello, Lily, I'm glad to finally meet you. Oh, and please either call me Hannah or Mrs. P, which is what everyone else calls me as well."

" Sure, Mrs. P, it's great to meet you too."

" Well, James it looks like you've got yourself a good one this time... let's try to keep her for a couple weeks at least," Mr. P said chuckling to himself and making James blush.

Hannah bit her lip to hold in a laugh while she sent her husband a scolding look.

" What? Now, honey you know it's true."

Hannah said nothing she just rolled her eyes and looked back towards Lily.

" I heard that you decorated the Mansion for the Ball today."

Smiling nervously she nodded.

" Yes, but I didn't do it alone of course, everyone worked equally."

Mrs. Potter turned and started towards the ball room, motioning for Lily and James to follow them. Sirius, Mallory, Remus and Amanda stayed back because at the moment they were in the middle of a very heated game of Wizards Chess.

" Well, this looks absolutely wonderful Lily!" Hannah exclaimed when she saw the ball room.

Harold nodded and smiled in agreement, " Yes, it looks fantastic! This must have taken you lot ages, even with your wands."

Lily smiled," Thank you, but with the help of everyone else it only took up a day really."

" Thats not bad at all," Hannah said in surprise. " Well, I think I'm going to head to the kitchen and fix up a lunch for us all, I'm sure none of you have eaten."

James smirked, " You know us all too well, Mum."

" That's my job, Jamesie."

James winced at the nickname and blushed as both Lily and Harold tried to stifle laughter.

" Oh shut up will you?"

Mr. Potter bit his lip and then sighed heavily.

" Well, I'm going to see if Milly put all of our suit cases away, she's getting a bit old and tends to put things in the wrong places."

He smiled and nodded at Lily and left the two standing in the middle of the Ballroom alone.

" Well, I think I did okay." Lily said after a while.

" Okay? You did fantastic, they love you!" He took her hand and kissed her cheek as he led her back to the entry room.

" You think so?"

" No, I know so. They've never taken so quickly to anyone." He laughed, " I mean they questioned Remus and Sirius for an hour before they were allowed to stay the night."

She seemed to relax at that, and he smiled to himself. They both were silent until they reached the rest of their friends, when they did they stopped dead in their tracks and took in all that was happening.

The chess board was in between the two couches, turned over with broken pieces every where. Sirius was hiding behind a vase in the corner and Remus was under the couch with his head poking out. That was weird enough, but what disturbed Lily and James most was what Mallory and Amanda were doing.

They were rolling on the floor beating the shit out of each other. Mallory was on top pulling Amanda's hair, and Amanda was currently slapping Mallory repeatedly across the face. She hit her one last hard time and Mallory let go of her hair and began to strangle her.

" You stupid _bitch!_" Amanda wheezed as she grabbed Mallory's hair and twisted it around her arm.

" _I'm_ the stupid bitch! I don't think so you, good for nothing..." Mallory started to say as she squeezed Amanda harder.

Lily's eyes widened as she looked at James.

" I'll get Amanda," he said in understanding.

They ran over to the two girls and grabbed them by the waist. Lily pried Mallory's fingers off of Amanda and pulled her back.

" What the hell is going on here!" She screamed, in confusion and anger, she'd never seen the two of them fight before, much less try to kill each other.

Amanda struggled against James' grasped and yelled, " She called me a _whore!_ Let me at her."

Mallory grabbed at Lily's hands, but she wouldn't let go, " That was only because she called me fat!"

James looked at Lily with a confused look, immediately Lily returned it because she was just as lost as he was.

They let go of the two, and surprisingly they just stayed there.

" Wait a second, how did all this start?" Lily asked.

Sirius and Remus came out from their hiding spots and walked over, seeming to be scared of their girlfriends.

" Well, Sirius won the chess game, and we started to joke around with each other." Remus said.

Sirius nodded and looked again as if he was frightened, " Before we knew it the two had taken it seriously and were shouting things at each other."

Remus barged in and added, " We thought they would stop considering how close they are, but they didn't. All of the sudden they were rolling around on the floor trying to kill each other."

" And that's where we came in.." Lily concluded.

James looked at Sirius and Remus as if they were lunatics, " And why were you hiding? For what reason didn't you try to separate them?"

" We weren't going to run in there separate them and get killed ourselves! Are you insane!" Sirius exclaimed. " I mean you saw them!"

" They're your girlfriends! Merlin! You have no reason to be afraid of them!"

" This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen." She muttered under her breath as she made her way over to Mallory and Amanda who were sitting as far away from the other as possible.

Lily sat in the middle of them and sighed, " Okay, come on, you aren't going to let something stupid like this get between you two now are you?"

Neither of them moved.

" Mal, Mandy, look at yourselves, this is ridiculous! We've been friends forever, and you're going to let a game get between you."

Mallory looked at Lily and smiled sarcastically, " Well, she should have thought about this before she said I was fat." She pulled out her wand and made all of the scratches and bruises vanish from her body. " I'm going to help Mrs. P with breakfast. When she decides to apologize I will, but until then she can befriend someone else."

" Mallory!" Lily said, attempting to make her stay, but it didn't work she had already reached the kitchen.

She turned to Amanda, " Mandy, you surely aren't going to just let the friendship you had with her go are you? I mean after all I'm sure neither of you meant it."

Amanda just looked at Lily and raised her eyebrow.

" Merlin..." Lily sighed, " Okay, just think of all that we've been through! You've always been there for her and she's always been there for you."

" She deserved it all." Amanda said looking out the window and ignoring what Lily was saying.

Lily groaned and smacked her forehead, " For Gods Sake Amanda! Just go in there and apologize, everything will be okay then! The ball is tonight, we're all supposed to be able to have fun together, now that's all screwed up because of something as stupid as name calling."

Amanda got up and brushed herself off, " You know what Lily? You're right." Lily smiled, " But she can do the apologizing, she started it after all." Lily frowned and watched Amanda walk off in the direction of the bathrooms.

XxxxX

Amanda never came back to eat lunch she went back to her room and stayed there. The entire meal was spent with everyone trying to convince Mallory to apologize to Amanda, but she never agreed to it. Instead she ended up leaving the table disgusted with everyone and everything.

Now, about two hours later,Lily, Sirius, Remus and James were all sitting in one of the game rooms thinking of ways to make the two friends again.

" I still say my idea was the best." Sirius said moping in his chair.

Lily heaved a sigh, " We are _not_ going to hang them over a giant boiling pot of nacho cheese until they decide to be friends again! That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

" But think about all the cheese!"

" Sirius! Shut up!" all three of them yelled in unison.

" Fine... What about chocolate?"

" No!"

" Why don't we just let them figure it out on their own?" Remus said as he walked behind the bar and pulled out a butterbeer from the mini fridge.

" No, we can't because they are both as proud as a hippogriff," Lily said.

Remus plopped back down in his chair and sighed, " Well, what are we going to do then?"

James shrugged, " I say we stand there and make them apologize and don't leave until they do."

" And if that doesn't work?"

" We leave them alone, they can work it out by themselves then."

Lily checked her watch, " Well, let's go then its half past two and I have to start getting ready in forty five minutes."

With that the four of them left to gather the girls.

XxxxX

Lily stood in front of Amanda's door with Sirius and waited for the other two to retrieve Mallory. But when they returned they didn't have Mallory with them.

" Where is she?" Lily asked with a confused look crossing her face.

James bit his lip, " I dunno, she wasn't in her room."

" Yeah, she was just gone."

" Oh, Merlin, this can't be good."

Sirius opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the loud sound of... laughing, coming from Amanda's room.

Remus looked over at James, who looked over at Sirius who glanced at Lily who opened the door and gasped.

" What the hell!"

Mallory and Amanda were sitting next to the bed playing a game of Wizards Chess.

Amanda looked up and smiled, " You can play the winner Lily! Come in! I'm just about to win."

" Oh, no you aren't, I am so going to win." Mallory said with a high pitched giggle.

Lily turned around and looked at James with disbelief, then turned back to the girls and shook her head.

" There is no doubt in my mind that you two are bipolar." she mumbled.

Sirius gaped at them and shook his head, " Uh... aren't you supposed to be mad at each other?"

Mallory laughed, " Well. Yeah I suppose we are, but I just couldn't stand being mad at her for longer than a half hour and decided to say sorry."

" Yeah, no big deal. Go Mal, its your turn. And will you all quit standing there with that look on your face."

Lily looked at them for a second before she began to laugh hysterically.

" I have the weirdest friends ever."

Remus nodded, " That kind of goes unsaid."

James laughed and walked into the room, sitting down next to Amanda.

" Whatever, this is better than them tearing their eyes out."

Sirius shrugged and went over to his girlfriend like Remus had done. Lily sat down next to James and sighed.

" That was easy."

James smiled, " Yup, we hardly had to do anything."

Lily laughed and watched the game continue for another twenty minutes.

XxxxX

At three thirty the whole Mansion had transformed into a chaotic mess. Everyone was running everywhere. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were making last minute calls and elves were finishing up the food trays. The only quite places were the ones located outside of the house.

The girls were all in Lily's room getting ready. Lily was brushing her hair while Amanda took a shower and Mallory gave herself a French manicure.

" Mal, where is my clip, I had it just a few minutes ago!"

Mallory looked up for a brief second and snorted, " Um, try clipped to your robe."

Lily looked down and sure enough on the collar of her robe was her diamond flower clip. She sighed and placed the clip on her nightstand.

" Hey can you curl my hair for me?" Lily asked.

" Getting lazy now are we?" Mallory said, only getting a annoyed look from Lily, " Okay, okay,"

She reached behind her and grabbed her wand.

" There happy?"

Lily looked in the mirror and smiled, soft curls, perfect.

" Yup, thanks!"

Just then Amanda stepped out of the bathroom in her red slip that would go under her dress.

" Hey Mallory, can you dry my hair for me?"

She groaned, " What is this? Am I some kind of servant?" She waved her wand and Amanda's long brown hair instantly dried.

" Sorry I would do it myself but I can't, do you mind straightening it?"

Lily laughed as Mallory threw down her wand and screamed for Milly, one of the house elves.

With a pop the short elderly elf appeared smiling from ear to ear.

" Yes, Miss. Oliver, can Milly help you?"

Mallory smiled out of relief and nodded, " Yeah, can you help them?"

Milly bowed and pulled out her wand, " Milly would be happy to, she would."

While Amanda was getting her hair done Lily changed out of her robe and into her slip as well. Checking the clock on her wall her eyes widened, it was already four fifteen, almost an hour had passed and she had only finished pinning her hair up.

When she walked back out of her closet she noticed that Amanda had finished getting her hair done and was now taking up the entire mirror to do her make up. She sighed and turned around to use the other mirror, but yet again it was already being used by Mallory who was doing her make up as well.

" Oh, I see, this may be my room but I have to go to the bathroom to do my make up... how nice."

" Sorry, Lils," Amanda said as she reached for her eyeshadow.

Mallory laughed, " That's what you get for taking forever to get your hair done."

Lily smiled and rolled her eyes, " Milly, do you know where my make up bag is?"

" Milly will get it for you Ma'am," she waved her wand and the make up bag appeared in Lily's hand.

" Thank you."

Milly bowed and watched Lily disappear into the bathroom.

Lily looked in the mirror and frowned. She reached for her foundation and began to cover up her uneven skin, then she applied the powder foundation... blush... silver eye shadow... a dust of shimmering powder to line her eyebrows, mascara. And just as she began to put on her lipstick she heard a knock at the door. This made her jump which resulted in her going off of her lips.

" Dammit!" she said angrily.

Lily left the bathroom and looked around for Milly. " I'm so sorry to bother you Milly, but could you fix this for me," she pointed and her lip and without a word Milly fixed it.

She thanked the helpful elf and turned to the door, " Who's there?"

" It's me," she heard James said from the other side of the door.

At the sound of his voice her heart skipped a beat... like usual, and she instantly smiled.

She turned around to find both Mallory and Amanda smiling mischievously back at her and she had the odd feeling that they knew something she didn't.

" Uh,... I'm going to go out there for a second, okay?"

Mallory's smile widened, " Sure."

With one last curious glance, she opened the door and stepped out only too find James in black dress pants, polished shoes and a white undershirt. She had completely forgot that she was only wearing her thin white slip that just barely reached mid thigh.

But this didn't seem to mind James, of course he loved it.

Lily smiled and blushed as he continued to check her out.

" What's up?"

He blushed and cleared his throat, " Um, I brought you something," he said pulling two small boxes from behind him and holding them out to her. One was long and thin, and the other was short and fat.

She took them and smiled, " Thanks,"

When she opened the first one she gasped and looked back up at him with a look of complete shock.

In the long thin box was the necklace that she had been admiring the night that James had been taken to St. Mungos. She opened and shut her mouth repeatedly, how had he known? And it was so expensive, she just couldn't believe that he had went out and got this for her.

The diamonds and emerald sparkled up at her they seemed to be smiling at her just as James was.

" Mallory and Amanda said you might like it. When I saw it I knew I had to get it for you."

" Oh thank you so much James!" She said as she threw arms around him and kissed him hard on the lips.

He took the box from her and pulled the necklace out, motioning for her to turn around. When she did she could feel the necklace slip around her neck and clasp. She reached up and ran her fingers over it as she turned back to him and smiled.

" Don't forget about the other one, go ahead open it."

" Oh, yeah that's right," she said laughing as she opened the small box.

She looked down and her eyes widened, she looked back up at him and he smiled.

In the fat box was a white gold diamond ring, the diamond was shaped as a heart and on either side of it were small heart shaped diamond settings in the band.

" It's a promise ring Lily, will you promise to stay with me no matter what until we... hopefully... eventually get married?"

That was the first time marriage had ever been brought up in one of their conversations, her heart seemed to temporarily stop as she imagined James and herself standing at the alter.

" Of course!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around him again, a tear escaped her eyes as James kissed her again.

He wiped it away and took the ring out of the box, placing it on her right ring finger.

James smiled and took her in his arms again, he nuzzled his face up against her neck.

" I love you," he whispered in her ear.

Lily pulled away and kissed him, " I love you too, thank you so much James."

He shrugged and let go, " Oh, don't thank me. Now you better get back in there and finish getting dressed. You have... twenty minutes until the Ball starts, the band is already here."

Lily nodded and kissed him one last time before returning to her room.

When she re-entered she found both of the girls already dressed and making their finishing touches.

They turned around, their dresses fanning around them and smiled.

" Oh, Lily it looks beautiful on you!" Mallory said as she gave her a quick hug.

Amanda ran over to her with her dress and handed it to her, " You look beautiful, the ring is fantastic! I'm so happy for you."

" Thanks guys, I'm going to go get dressed though I don't have much time."

They nodded in agreement as Mallory handed her shoes to her. " Yeah, go, hurry."

She changed in record time, 3.5 minutes. Amanda and Mallory were sitting on her bed waiting patiently for her to come back out of the bathroom. And when she did they started to laugh and compliment her again. But they had to quit because she still had to make a few last minute touch ups.

Lily put on a pair of emerald tear drop earrings and made sure her hair was pinned securely before she turned back to her friends.

" How do I look?" she asked as the two of them stood up.

" Gorgeous," Mallory said.

Amanda smiled " Stunning, what about us?"

Truthfully Lily thought they looked better than her. Amanda's red gown reflected her personality and made her sparkle. Not to mention her hair. It was styled in layers and had streaks of blonde placed perfectly, her hair was pinned half back and long bangs framed her delicate face. She had on a reddish brown eyeshadow with dark brown mascara and a medium dark red lipstick to compliment it all.

Mallory's dress was also amazing, the blue color enhanced her eyes and fit her like a dream. Her platinum blond hair was left down in loose curls, and her make up was left simple and light, clear lip gloss, shimmering blue eyeshadow and a few coats of mascara.

" You both look beautiful. Now let's get down there before everyone starts arriving."

The three of them left, each of them just as excited as the other... well maybe Lily was a little bit more thrilled, but that's only because she knew she would be dancing with James all night long. What could possibly be better?

**A/N: Okay, well once again sorry for the long long long wait, I'll do better. I hope you all liked this chapter! Please give me some input, I really enjoy hearing what each of you have to say.**

**In the next chapter, obviously, will be the Ball. But there will be a party wrecker present that will ruin the fun for Lily and James, especially Lily. And this party wrecker may not be a person... **

**Review please!**

**Love,**

**Lissa**


	15. Devastating News

**A/N: I'm SO sorry about the mix up I uploaded the wrong chapter! Ah ... ok enjoy!**

**Chapter 15**

**Devastating News**

When they reached the end of the stairs the sound of music could be heard, they smiled eagerly at each other and hurried down the stairs. James was standing at the door ushering people in with his parents. Remus and Sirius were waiting for Mallory and Amanda at the end of the steps. The girls gave each other quick hugs and went off with their boyfriends.

Lily took a deep breath and walked over to James who was shaking a middle aged man's hand. His parents saw her first. Mr. Potter who was wearing a traditional black tux, winked at Lily and nodded towards James.

" You'll have to tell him to keep his hands off you. The dress is lovely, and the jewelry is delightful."

She smiled and thanked him.

Mrs. Potter was wearing a dark green gown that hugged her curves and made her seem fifteen years younger.

" You look beautiful Lily," she leaned in, " you look the best here so far. And I love the ring!"

Lily laughed and smiled, " Thank you, you look very nice too."

When she had finished speaking with his parents she turned and found him gazing at her open mouthed. She took his hand and drug him off to the side.

For a while he didn't say anything, and she began to worry if it all was too much, but that thought vanished when he took her in his arms and kissed her like he had never kissed her before. When she pulled away she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks, she didn't know why she found herself blushing but she was.

" You look amazing, love." he said quietly, admiring everything about her.

James especially loved her hair and how a single lock fell down across her cheek. The jewelry look fantastic on her as well, everything was wonderful. The white dress fit her like a second skin and the neckline made her very snog worthy. James had to keep looking away from her to keep his self control.

Lily grinned cheekily, " You look pretty good yourself,"

James looked much better than good, his hair was jelled and thankfully it wasn't pulled off to the side, she hated it when guys did that.

He slipped his arm around her waist and headed towards the Ballroom.

The Ballroom was fantastic, the normal lights were dimmed and the strings of lights Lily had hung were glistening above them. Soft, soothing music was playing and there was a slight hum of discussion echoing throughout the room. The mood in the room was unbelievably calm and laid back and it took the stress off of Lily's shoulders. She was especially nervous around all of the high class rich witches and Wizards, Lily had never been exactly well off, she was more middle class.

James rubbed her back affectionately and smiled down at her, " You did a fantastic job."

She leaned her head onto his shoulder and grinned to herself.

" Did you have to welcome everyone?" Lily asked suddenly, lifting her head from his shoulder.

" Well, not everyone, when I saw you I quit welcoming, I was only doing it to satisfy my parents."

" I think its great that you will do just about anything for your family. It's a shame they have to leave so soon though."

He sighed, " Yeah, I think they're leaving tomorrow, or maybe Sunday. I'm not absolutely sure."

They continued to walk around the room together in silence for a few minutes until Lily spoke again.

" I feel like a martini why don't we make our way over to the bar?"

James nodded, " Sounds good to me. I almost forgot we had a bar in here,"

" One of my better ideas."

" Definitely."

Upon reaching the bar many woman stopped them to say hello to James, all of them tried to either get him to dance with them or go out on a date with them. But each and every time he proudly introduced Lily to them and they all left with obvious looks of jealousy plastered to their faces.

James leaned on the edge of the bar and smiled at the young brunette bar tender.

" What'll it be honey?"

James smirked cockily and flashed her another smile, " Two martinis please."

She waved her wand and winked as she handed them to him.

He sent her one last smile and turned to face a very angry Lily.

She stood there with her arms crossed and a very disappointed look on her face. James smiled and started laughing, he had done that on purpose just to see what she would do.

" Love, don't look at me like that. I did that on purpose."

" Well, it damn well was not funny." Lily snatched her martini from his hands and gave him another dirty look.

" I just wanted to see what you would do, I won't do it anymore."

She rolled her eyes, " Whatever... you know, it's hard being your girlfriend. Every girl wants to be in my shoes and they don't care to keep it to themselves."

He put his arm around her again and started walking towards the garden.

" Oh come on, is it really all that bad being my girlfriend?"

" No, not until you start flirting with other girls and vise versa."

He led her over to the fountain and sat down next to her. A slight mist fell on them and the water was more refreshing than annoying.

He took a sip of his drink and kissed her on the nose. " I promise I'll save all of my urges to flirt for you and you only, alright?"

Lily tried to stay angry but the look on his face, the look of complete innocence ( ha ) and truth won, she smiled and shoved him.

" Oh, alright."

" It's hard to not love me isn't it?"

" No, actually it's not." Lily replied smirking at his confused look. " Yes, of course it is you idiot."

" Sexy idiot," he corrected with another smile.

She couldn't help but to agree with that, his hair did make him just about irresistible. Not to mention his hazel eyes that seemed to draw her in and never let her free, and his smile that no girl, especially herself, could ever resist. Her insides seemed to melt every time she was with him, and all of her worries floated away like nothing but the two of them mattered.

They finished their drinks and sat together for a few more minutes before they got up and made their way back into the Ballroom.

James let go of her waist and took hold of her hand, " Dance with me?" he asked.

Lily giggled girlishly and smiled, " Of course."

He led her to the middle of the dance floor before placing his arms on her waist and whisking her off to an entirely different world, where once again, everything other than themselves seemed to melt away.

She put her arms around his neck and followed him to the slow rhythmic beat of the jazzy music, and when the song sped up so did they, he began to spin her in and out of his arms and dip her low. Each time taking the advantage to kiss her or mutter something romantic into her ear. Lily loved it when he did that and she could help but blush.

" You're some dancer you know." Lily said after the song slowed back down again.

He chuckled quietly as he rested his head on hers, " My parents made me take lessons when I was younger."

She pulled her head off his shoulder and looked at him, " Really?"

He nodded and grinned, " Yup."

" Hmm, that's weird," she said as she laid her head back down onto his shoulder.

When the song stopped they just stood there and waited for the next one to start, then they would dance again, and when that song stopped they would wait again. They did this for about five songs before taking a seat off to the side. Just as things were beginning to become uninteresting Mallory and Sirius showed up.

" Hey guys, why aren't you dancing?" Mallory asked as she took a seat next to Lily.

" Yeah, James, you should be out there getting it on!"

James laughed, " Okay first of all, Sirius, never say that again... that was just... weird. And we just got finished dancing to like five million songs."

" Oh, I see, have you guys seen Remus and Amanda at all tonight?"

Lily shook her head, "No, I haven't have you James?"

James shook his head as well, " Nope, I haven't either, why?"

" I was just wondering, because they seem to have virtually vanished."

Sirius laughed, " Let's just hope Amanda doesn't come back with the nick name Preggy."

Mallory slapped him, " _Sirius!_" she hissed.

Lily and James laughed, " You two already act like you're married."

" Hey you lot want some butterbeers?" Sirius asked randomly.

They all nodded and Sirius left to go to the bar. They all sat in silence for a few minutes before Mallory started talking again.

" Hey, what's that?"

" What's what?" Asked Lily, looking at Mallory searchingly.

Mallory pointed towards the ceiling, " There, that red thing... is it moving?"

Lily squinted up at the ceiling and sure enough there was something red floating... no flying, above them. Suddenly it swooped down towards Lily and began to slow. It was Fawx, Dumbledore's Phoenix.

" It's Fawx," Lily said as she stood up and held her arm out for the bird.

He landed gently on her arm and opened his beak letting out a small piece of parchment. Then, without even giving her time to open it, Fawx flew away.

" Hmm, wonder what this is about," She said giving her friends a confused smile as she sat back in between her boyfriend and Mallory.

Lily opened it and began to read, by the time she was done she was more than upset.

_**Dear Miss Evans,**_

_**I am very sorry to say that a horrible accident dealing with Voldemort has occurred. And you may be wondering why this has anything to do with you, believe me it has more than enough to do with you.**_

_**A few hours ago, Voldemort decided to go on a killing spree in the middle of a small muggle village just off London, not to far from where you are right now. He seemed to target a select three houses. The first home was the Anderson's, the second was the Ricardo's and the third was sadly your own home. **_

_**It is very hard for me to tell you this but it is something you must know immediately. Voldemort has killed your father, although this is very upsetting I am relieved to say that your mother and sister have lived through the accident considering they were both away at the time. I have suspicions that he did not go to that village only to kill for fun, I think he is targeting a specific person... you. **_

_**I need you to have someone apparate you to my office this Tuesday at one o'clock to discuss the situation you are currently in, and the funeral details. I am very sorry this has happened and I wish I could've done something, but sometimes things happen that cannot be fixed or controlled. If you need anything please come to my office immediately, you are welcome here always.**_

_**Sincerely,**_

_**Albus Dumbledore**_

**Albus Dumbledore**

**Hogwarts Headmaster**

The thin piece of parchment floated out of her hands and fell to the floor, she stood up and ran towards the garden, tears brimmed her eyes and threatened to fall but she wouldn't cry until she was alone.. far away from everyone else.

XxxxX

James got up, " Lily? What are you doing?"

He turned around to find Mallory with her hand covering her mouth and the letter firmly grasped in her hand. She held it out to him and began to shake her head slowly over and over.

James brought the parchment into his view and read it slowly.. once... twice... three times before it all kicked in. Mr. Potter, was dead. Lily's one and only father, the man who had raised her from a baby, was gone.

Without saying one word he shoved the paper back at Mallory and ran off in the direction of where Lily had headed moments before.

XxxxX

Lily never wanted to stop running, she thought that maybe, just maybe, if she kept running she might run away from the thought of her father being gone forever. She ran past the fountain, and down one of the brick paths. When the path ended she continued to run up a hill far away from the Mansion. Soon her tears began to cloud her vision so she was forced to slow down, after reaching the top of the hill a large weeping willow came into view.

She collapsed at the trunk of the willow and pulled her knees to her chest, she sobbed until her eyes began to burn. Lily could hear the sound of James' voice echoing through the distance. It didn't even cross her mind for a second that she might just look like she had climbed out of a dumpster, the only thing that mattered to her right then was her father. She kept remembering everything that had ever happened between the two of them. From the time when she lost her first tooth to the time when she left for the first day at Hogwarts. Her dad was always there for her, kissing her scrapes to make them feel better and holding her close after a bad nightmare. No matter what he had always succeeded in comforting her.

Lily could hear the sound of footsteps and panting coming from behind her, she lifted her head to see James jogging towards her. In the process of coming to find her his hair had been wind blown and his tie had came loose, but she had never been happier to see him than just then.

" Oh, Lily, I'm so sorry."

He sat down next to her and took her in his arms. Just as she thought she would run out of tears another wave of them came and she found herself sobbing into his shoulder. James stroked her hair and kissed her forehead, telling her that everything would be alright, that it would all turn out okay, but in the back of his mind he wanted nothing more than to kill Voldemort right then and there. Seeing Lily like this tore his heart in two.

He could never imagine losing his parents, it would be too hard to even think about something as horrible as that happening. It would be like loosing a part of himself, he couldn't even pretend to understand how she felt.

James could feel the tears seeping through his shirt and onto his chest, he hugged her closer to himself and kissed her forehead again.

" Don't cry, love, he wouldn't want to see you upset like this." James attempted.

Lily raised her head and looked up at him with red blotchy eyes, her hair falling down into her face and tear stains painted heavily on her peachy skin. She squinted her eyes at him and shook her head.

" My father... has just been... murdered by Voldemort, and you're ... telling me not to cry!" she managed to spit out in between gulps for air.

Lily knew he was only trying to calm her down, and she understood that he didn't want to see her upset, but asking her not to cry was something she just couldn't do.

James reached out with both hands and gently wiped her tears away, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and lifted her chin up slightly.

" I'm sorry... you cry as much as you want." He whispered.

She collapsed back into his arms and laid there for awhile, but she found that she couldn't cry anymore. Her eyes burned from it all and her chest was soaked, Lily still felt the need to cry but she just couldn't do it.

Lily put her hand on his chest and moved it back and forth slowly before looking up at him and sighing.

" What am I going to do... he's gone... and this time he's not going to come back." she said in almost an incoherent whisper.

" I don't know, Lily, I really don't know."

Thunder sounded in the distance and the wind began to blow in short gusts. They sat there for a few minutes trying to enjoy the peacefulness of the willow and its calm surroundings, but nothing would calm either of them. Lily was too upset from the devastating news she had received and James was too high strung from worrying about Lily.

Without any warning it began to rain, first in a mist but soon it increased to a downpour.

Lily shivered and was pulled up from the ground by James.

He took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders, " Here take this, we better get back before it starts lightening."

And as if it were a signal of some sort lightening flashed very close to them and only seconds after thunder roared so loud it shook the ground below their very feet.

She nodded and felt him slip his arm around her waist.

" We're going to have to run aren't we?"

James shook his head.

" No, not you," he lifted her into his arms without any difficulty and began to walk to the edge of the tree. " Just me."

After another loud boom of thunder he began to run. It was no trouble carrying her because she didn't weigh too much, and truthfully Quidditch had done him well. Not only had it toned his muscles, but it had strengthened him greatly as well.

A few minutes later James busted through the garden gates and made his way through this twisty paths to the door that led into the Mansion. But to his misfortune the doors had been firmly shut and were locked. James had left his wand inside so any unlocking spell was completely useless at that time. He tried banging on the door and seeing through a gap in the curtains, but it seemed that the lights were turned off and as far as he could see no one was in there. Either the guests had left, which was very unlikely, or they were in the game room on the second floor.

James sighed and looked up into the sky where there seemed to be only a dark pit, no stars, only thunder, rain and thick black clouds. Lightening cracked behind them again as he thought quickest way to get in, and that would be the main door.

" What do we do now?" Lily asked, as she tightened her grip around his neck and looked around frightfully.

He bit his lip and paused for a moment.

" Well, I think we have to go through the front."

Lily looked at him for a second with a blank expression before closing her eyes and shaking her head.

" Why don't you apparate us in there."

James opened and shut his mouth repeatedly before he nodded and did so. They landed in the middle of the front room which was completely vacant except for various coats, purses and hats scattered about the floor.

He let her down carefully in a nearby chair.

" Wait here I'll be right back." he said before running up the stairs behind them.

Lily didn't respond she just pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on the back of the chair as she waited for him to come back. While he was gone she rethought everything that had just happened to her. And anger flooded over her body, she expected tears, sadness or at least a feeling of emptiness. But this time it was none of those.. just plain, simple, anger. At her sister and mother for not being there with him, at herself for not giving her father a proper goodbye and leaving to stay with James all summer long... lightening flashed outside of the nearby window..., and most of all...

"_Voldemort" _she hissed as thunder rumbled again making the chandelier handing above her vibrate and clink together.

Oh, how she wanted to waltz up to him and Avada Kedavra him right then and there. Over and over... to put him through pain her father had gone through, and the kind of pain she was going through right now.

The monstrous storm outside seemed to mock the anger and sadness that had built up inside of her for the last two hours. She couldn't stop her mind from traveling back to the letter '_Voldemort has killed your father_'. It kept playing itself over and over. Lily wanted to forget about it, she wished a bomb would explode in her head and some how erase the horrible memories she had just recently developed. But no matter how hard she tried the thought wouldn't leave her.

Without warning her anger faded, it was as if she was on a roller coaster... sadness first, then anger and now fear. Everything seemed to remind her of death now, or war, anything relating to killing or fighting. The chair she sat in was red- reminding her of blood. The lightening was the threatening flash of bright like just after the killing curse had been cast. And random sharp objects were knives, things that could kill. None of these things had ever meant anything special to her, until now.

Lily cringed and shrunk back into her chair and realized that nothing would ever be the same from this time on. Anger rushed over her as the emotional roller coaster did another loop-dee-loop she thought she would scream out in frustration, and just as she was going to a hand connected with her shoulder. Lily jumped and gasped sharply, but it was only James... nothing to be afraid of.

A faint sympathetic smile flickered across his face as he noticed her look of confusion and complete mix of emotions . James knew she was having an inner battle, half of her wanting to cry and the other to kill.

" Hey," he said quietly " I set up a bubble bath for you in your bathroom. Why don't you head up there and take a break, maybe a nice hot bath and some sleep with help a little with all of this..."

Lily smiled slightly, not her normal smile, not a real smile, but a forced one. She tucked a loose curl of her dripping wet hair behind her ear as she stood and began to walk towards the stairs.

" Thank you," she muttered as she started to climb them, not even turning back to look at him.

James didn't like this sudden change in her, the spark she had was gone, but he understood why. He knew that sooner or later she would be back to normal, but it had all happened so fast; like a slap in the face. Maybe, hopefully not, she would never come out of this stage, it might be permanent. Whether the out come was good or bad, James had decided to comfort her through it all. There would be times for her to do this for him of course, but it was his turn now.

He heaved a sigh and started up the opposite set of stairs.

" Oh," he said as he stopped briefly, " I'm going to dismiss the guests and then I'll be going to bed. If you need anything at all, come and get me... no you don't even have to do that, just yell for me I'll come in a heart beat." he looked at his watch and began again, " I'll be back in my room probably around ten or so, that's only a half hour."

Lily nodded again and they both started down the hallway in opposing directions, him to the game room where the guests where probably already drunk, and Lily to her room.

She walked into her room and smiled faintly again as she glanced around her room. Flowers were everywhere and bright white and red swirled candles were charmed to float around above her. It gave the whole room the wonderful aroma of Cinnamon and a warm glow was cast onto the walls. Her white flowing curtains were drown, most likely to keep the view of the storm out, and her bed was pulled back to make it easier for her to slip into bed and dream her problems away.

Her smile vanished as she was reminded of her own home's scent and bright heavenly blow, this only sent her into another few moment of deep depression before she forced herself to shove it in the back of her mind and proceed to the bathroom.

The huge tub was filled with steaming water and pink bubbles, and once again there were candles floating near the ceiling. But there was also a special touch that James had done just for her. Lily's favorite muggle CD was playing quietly in the back ground.

Lily let down her hair and slipped out of her dress, she set the clothes on the toilet and stepped down into the tub. She rested her back on the corner of the bathtub and tried to relax and enjoy it all, but she kept finding herself focusing on sad thoughts and more often crying without realizing it. Lily pretended it was just a joke, or a nightmare of some kind, but she knew it wasn't in the back of her mind. There was something that could only be comforted by a father, and because he was gone she felt empty and completely lost.

Frustrated with herself and with crying, and with the world she washed herself quickly and got out. Keeping herself busy was the key to keeping her mind busy, if she was doing something it kept her mind thinking about that and off the subject of her father's death. Lily slipped on a robe and headed to her closet the whole time rubbing her forehead to try and make the horrible headache she had, disappear.

She picked out a flowing blue silk nightie that fell just below her knees, it had a lace trim and felt soft on her skin, it was one of her favorites. As she mad her way to where her hair brush was.. on top of her dresser.. she avoided all of the mirrors as to keep from seeing her blotchy eyes and being reminded of it all again.

Lily examined the creamy colored carpet as she ran her brush through her tangled locks. After finishing, she set her brush back where it had been moments before and slipped into bed. She sighed deeply and inhaled the fresh scent of her recently washed quilt and crisp sheets. It meant so much to her to know that James would be there for her no matter what, just as he was doing now. For the first time after getting that letter a true grin crossed her face and a tingling feeling slithered its way all down her back. No sooner had it came, it was gone though, replaced by the feeling emptiness once more.

XxxxX

Lily watched the clock turn over for an hour and a half without once closing her eyes, she had been laying there crying for all that time. Silent tears continuously ran down her cheeks, she just couldn't take it anymore. She wanted her father to come waltzing into her room and pick her up to dance with her like he had done when she was very young.

Her eyes floated from the clock to the door as she contemplated about going to James' room. Lily knew that being near him would calm her, and all she wanted and needed was to be held, at a time like this that's all that anyone could do.

Without turning on the lights she pealed the covers off of her and stepped out of bed. She wiped her tears and hugged her arms around herself as she made her way through her door and across the hall. Just like James had promised his door was opening, so Lily peaked in and saw him asleep in his bed.

Lily slipped in and shut the door quietly behind her she didn't want to wake him she just wanted to be near him. So she ran over to the bed on her toes and slid under the covers without making the bed move at all or making the floor creak.

James stirred and turned over to face her.

" You couldn't sleep..."

Completely confused at how she could have possibly woke him, she just nodded and stared back at him through the darkness.

He yawned and scooted over closer to her.

" Don't worry I wasn't asleep, I was thinking about coming into your room just as you came in."

Lily didn't say anything she just rested her head on his chest and took his hand in hers, as if it was a reaction he put his other arm around her waist and kissed her head.

" Let's get some sleep, tomorrow we can apparate over to your mother's house to check up on them if you'd like." James picked his words carefully and waited for her reply.

" That would be nice... thank you," she mumbled into his chest.

He lifted her face to meet his and kissed her softy on each cheek and then on the lips.

" I love you," James whispered, " and I'll always be here for you, no matter what. I'll do whatever it takes to see your beautiful face light up, so there is no need for thanks."

She kissed him back and nuzzled her face into his neck.

" I love you too, James, more than I ever thought possible."

XxxxX

James knew that the following day would be hard on Lily, but he felt it was important to reunite a mother and daughter at a time like this. So with this on his mind.. and surely on hers as well he drifted off to sleep with Lily in his arms, desperately trying not to cry.

**A/N: And the drama has now come into play. I know this was a repetitive chapter but I hope you liked it. Now I need you to review! Tell me if you liked it! Okay... thanks!**

**Review! Please and Thank you! )**


	16. Visiting

**A/N: Okay, I know I repeat myself all the time, but, sorry for the long wait. School has been very hectic lately and family life isn't exactly going 'smoothly' so I'm doing my very best. In my last chapter I noticed I said** " Mr. Potter was dead" **That was one of my big mistakes, Mr. Evans is dead, not Mr. Potter. I will eventually get to fixing that and everything but that takes time, which I have very little of lol. So Thanks for hangin in there with me and thanks to all of you guys who read and review! I love you all! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.. soon the sadness will be over and happy things will replace the hard times! Okay ... go read!**

**Chapter 16**

**Visiting**

The day started off bad, continued bad and would most likely end bad for Lily. She woke up late, the showers wouldn't work, and she couldn't find her favorite shirt. After an hour of complete chaos Lily gave up, she didn't care today, there was no reason for fussing. She put on an old pair of jeans, some brown sandals and a green T-shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she didn't even bother with make up. There was no need for make up at a time like this, the few blemishes and spots of ache that she did have would just have to show.

When she walked into the kitchen she expected to have to make breakfast herself since it was way past noon and everyone would surely already be finished with both breakfast and lunch, but to her relief the whole gang was sitting at the table talking animatedly with white and blue porcelain plates sitting in front of them. Mrs. Potter was at the cast iron stove behind their custom bar-top, fixing the meal herself instead of having one of the elves do it for her, but of course her wand was out for some assistance.

Everyone stopped talking when she sat down next to James, and began to give her small fake-forced smiles which was something Lily absolutely couldn't stand. Amanda and Sirius did this worst of all. Amanda looked more like she was constipated than attempting to smile and Sirius just looked like a little kid being told to smile for a picture that he really didn't want to be in. She didn't even acknowledge it when they did this, Lily just looked down and started adjusting her shirt.

Hannah walked over to the table with her black heals clicking on the tile floor and began serving her pancakes with a very concerned motherly smile on her face that reminded Lily of her own mother's expression she knew all too well.

" Good morning dear, did you sleep well?" asked Mrs. Potter as she slipped two eggs, three slices of bacon and a piece of fresh buttered toast onto the thin breakfast plates.

She nodded, but didn't attempt even the smallest grin." Yes, just fine. The food looks wonderful."

Mumbles of agreements filled the room and another broad smile spread across her face, this time out of actual happiness and appreciation. Hannah continued to dish out food to everyone else while explaining how she prepared the meal. No one seemed to really care very much but they all listened and acted sincere, knowing she meant well. Sadly enough, Mrs. Potter seemed to fall for it too.

When she finished serving the large meal she sat down at the end of the long dinning table and started on her own breakfast. Conversation started up immediately, and about the thing Lily least felt like talking about.

After stuffing a piece of toast in his mouth, Mr. Potter turned to his son who was sitting by Lily, also currently stuffing food into his mouth.

" When will you two be leaving? After breakfast?"

James shifted uneasily in his seat, " Er... maybe this isn't the right time..."

Hannah sipped her pumpkin juice and shook her head, " All we're asking is when you're leaving, it isn't like we're talking about her - _father_."

James winced," Yes, after breakfast. Soon I expect, - whenever Lily's ready." answered James in an aggravated tone.

It was clear to everyone but Mr. and Mrs. Potter that anything slightly involving Lily's parents was a delicate area of discussion at the moment, both of them knew about the death of her father but it didn't seem to them that she wasn't over it yet. After all it was only the night before that the horrible incident had occurred.

Lily raised her head from the position it was in before and glanced across the table at the expression on everyone's face. Sirius and Remus were looking at James, struggling to tell him something without saying anything. Amanda and Mallory weren't looking up at anyone, they both had their heads down and seemed to be concerned only with eating their meals. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were looking across the table at each other with obvious expressions of confusion. Lily was beginning to get seriously annoyed with all of this, everyone seemed to bee walking on eggshells around her, as if she couldn't handle being treated like a normal person. Even though she had never felt this lost, upset, or vulnerable before in her life, she wished everyone would just get a grip.

A few moments of silence passed before Harold started to talk again.

" Well, your mother and I will be leaving in an hour, around 2:30. We were hoping to be able to stay a bit longer, but things at the Ministry seem to be in an uproar yet again... our boss, Mad-Eye, owled us this morning telling us to be in as soon as possible."

Hannah nodded, " Yes, it seems we are going to Romania, there's been a series of violent murders there and we have to go check out the crime scene."

At the word 'murders' Lily winced and James noticed. He nodded quickly to show his parents he understood so they wouldn't continue.

" That's fine, we'll be okay on our own. You guys just be careful, I think Lily and I are going to get going now." He looked over at Lily, " Are you finished?"

She nodded and got up from the table extremely grateful that he had said something to end the awkward conversation. James joined her and smiled at everyone again.

" We should be back in a few hours I think,"

Hannah and Harold stood up from their spots and walked over to the two of them. Hannah gave James a hug, a kiss on the cheek, and smiled.

" Be careful... apparation isn't the safest type of transportation anymore you know..."

James smiled and hugged his mother again, " Mum, we'll be fine. It's not very far anyway."

She nodded and turned to Lily and sighed as she gave her a tight hug, " I'm so sorry Lily, if you need anything at all I'll always be here."

She flickered a dull smile back at Hannah with appreciation and nodded, " Thank you."

Harold then took her hand and shook it firmly, " It's been lovely getting to know you, and I'm extremely sorry we didn't have more time to talk."

She shrugged, " I'm sure we'll see each other sometime soon, do be careful over in Romania."

He nodded, smiled, and turned towards James. Mr. Potter clasped his hand on James' shoulder and looked him in the eye very seriously. It looked very odd seeing James and Harold standing so close to each other, it was as if they were almost identical twins.

" Treat her well, let nothing harm her, you hear?" he said in a low whisper so that no one but James could understand what he was saying.

James nodded and gave his dad a quick hug, " No worries Dad, she's gonna be fine with me."

With that James took Lily's arm and walked out into the front room. Everyone from the kitchen except Mr. and Mrs. Potter got up and followed them.

They all took turns giving Lily and James hugs and wishing them a safe trip there and back. All of them knew everything would be fine but they also knew that it would be hard on Lily to go back home so soon afterwards.

After several attempts to leave, James and Lily finally apparated away from everyone successfully and landed on the path to Lily's small home within seconds.

XxxxX

At the sight of her home, Lily's stomach churned uncomfortably and she could feel the blood drain out of her face. She couldn't help but wonder if coming home immediately after finding out about her father's death was a bad idea.

James eyes could be felt baring down on the back of her neck. To avoid questioning as to why she was standing stock still and turning pale she cleared her throat and started up the stairs to her door. Lily pressed the door bell and waited for her mother to open the door, but unfortunately her mother was not the one to meet her there.

" What are you doing here, freak?" said Petunia with a look of sheer disgust bare on her face. But something was missing, that urge to be evil was dulled down, her hurtful comment didn't have the effect it had in the past... she was like a badly sharpened knife...

Lily looked down at her feet and back up at her sister. For once in her life she didn't send a glare or a quick wit pun back at her.

" I came to see Mum, Petunia."

Her sister squinted her eyes and looked from Lily to James and then back to Lily again before stepping aside and letting them in.

" She's in her room." Petunia said shortly before returning to the kitchen with an expression of slight disappointment hardly even noticeable to the 'untrained' eye.

Even though Lily caught this almost immediately she ignored it with ease, while on any other day she would have been quite proud of herself. Instead, completely un-phased, she started up the carpeted stairs without a sign of sadness or hesitation showing. Lily left her feelings deeply covered by the blanket of shock that had fallen over her the previous night.

James' hazel eyes could be felt on the back of her neck again and she could sense he was worried about how extremely calm and quiet she had been this entire time, so, still ever so quietly she spoke up.

" Mum's room is right up ahead, just follow me."

Lily passed her room and turned to the right only to see the last door of the hallway facing her. Her stomach suddenly lurched and she wondered once more if she shouldn't just turn back and return to the Mansion.

Meanwhile James took notice of how she had abruptly stopped at her mother's door and waited patiently, anyone could clearly see she was having some sort of internal battle. He shifted his gaze from her locks of red gold and onto the blue and gray striped walls where many family pictures had been framed and hung.

One in particular made him beam, it was a picture of Lily, smiling and obviously laughing - something he hadn't seen her do all day, which was enough to sadden him.

The picture took place on a beach, probably during a family vacation. Lily looked about the age of eight and was just as cute as ever. A wave stood permanently still in mid crash and seagulls flew above in the blue sky. She stood in the middle of the shot with her famous million watt smile that made James' insides turn to goo, Lily was dressed in a bright green and white one-piece bathing suit. She looked so happy, and peaceful, as if nothing could ever make that smile even falter in the slightest, he looked back at present day Lily and his smile vanished completely.

He put a hand on her shoulder and turned her around, even though no one would have been able to tell from the back she had been crying. Tears had rolled down her cheeks and onto her shirt leaving spots on the soft material and making her face sparkle in the lighting.

" Lily, don't cry. Everything is going to be alright," assured James as he pulled her into a hug.

Lily hadn't realized she was crying until he had mentioned it. She normally never cried, it just wasn't like her, Lily was a strong person, since she was a child. Crying was not an option. She took a deep breath and wiped her tears. All of this depressing stuff was enough to kill her.

As James pulled away he looked into her eyes and shook his head sadly, " Maybe we should come back another time, maybe it's just too soon."

Lily answered quickly with force that seemed to shock James, " No, I _need_ to see my mother. She is the only one who I know feels the same way I do."

He nodded and with an unreadable expression took his hand off his shoulder and stepped back, she took this as a sign to open the door so she turned the knob and came face to yet another depressing sight.

Her mother was sitting in a rocker by the bay window asleep and, standing in the doorway, Lily could see the definite tear stains on her mother's face. A blanket that she had sewn while pregnant with Lily was wrapped around her waist and her normally goddess-like hair was frizzy and no longer sparkled. What upset Lily most of all was the picture of their wedding day that was clutched hopelessly to her chest, as if it were the last thing she had to live for.

James put a comforting hand on Lily's shoulder in reassurance, but removed it as Lily started towards her mother.

Lily walked over to the window and sat down, now that she was closer she could see dark bags underneath her mother's eyes and clutched in her hands along with the picture frame was a locket that he had given her the previous Christmas.

Her mom began to stir so she quickly made sure she had no tear stains on her face and waited for her to wake up.

Rose's bloodshot eyes snapped open and she jerked.

" Lily? ... Honey is that you?"

She nodded and flickered a faint smile towards her.

" Oh, Lily... I guess you've heard about your..." Without finishing the sentence tears brimmed her eyes and she had to stop.

Lily leaned forward and captured her mom in a tight hug.

She sighed heavily and bit her lip," Mum, I'm so sorry... I wish I would have been here... I might have been able to help..." then she started to sob uncontrollably along with Rose.

James shifted uncomfortably and then turned to leave the room, Lily needed this time with her mother alone, so he decided to wait outside the door.

When the door shut her mother really went crazy, while still sobbing she started to ramble incoherently.

" It's all my fault! We had a fight and I left, I took both sets of keys so he wouldn't follow me! Petunia was gone with Vernon so he was home all alone, I didn't even turn my cell phone on... just left it off... he could have called me! So ... selfish... stupid woman... and now he's gone! All my fault... allmyfault!" She took a breath and wailed loudly, then started up again, " I'm so stupid! Why? Why, did I have to leave! At least I could have gone with him! I can't believe it! Oh, Lily why does life have to be so hard!"

Lily looked at her mother as if she were almost completely insane before shaking her and making her stop howling.

" Mum, it's not your fault, whether you were there or not, Voldemort ... would have done it anyway."

" I don't care! I was horrible,... the things I said- I... I'll ... just ..." her sentence ended in another sob, she let go of Lily and put her face in her hands.

XxxxX

From outside the door James struggled not to listen, but Lily's mother was crying so loudly that it was hard not to hear. He caught bits and pieces of the conversation and put the puzzle together quickly. Everything was a buzz, the ball, the letter, all the tears... he found himself second guessing and questioning everything- wondering if there would have been some way to save him.

No, there was no way.

James sat there, outside the red oak door, and listened to the two cry for and hour and a half before it all stopped. He guessed they had either given up on crying or their tear ducts had run dry. James checked his watch, 4:17, he sighed sadly and waited for Lily to come out, but for another half hour she stayed in there, he could hear them sniffling and talking quietly, but couldn't make out anything they were saying.

Since his butt was beginning to go numb from sitting on the hard floor so long he stood up and stretched. Just as he did this, the door knob turned and very sad and tired looking Lily walked out.

" Is... everything okay?" James said, his voice slightly hoarse for not talking for such long period of time.

Lily nodded and leaned on the wall next to him, " Sorry it... took so long. I had a hard time calming her. She decided to take a nap."

He shook his head, " Really, there is no need to apologize. I understand."

They were quiet for a minute before James spoke up again.

" Well, It's almost five, if you'd like we could go get a bite to eat... or if you aren't hungry we could just go back to the Mansion."

Lily looked down at her feet and cleared her throat. She had been thinking of staying here with her mother for a few days, at least until the meeting with Dumbledore, but she didn't want to tell James this. It would be hard for her to leave him... she felt like she was being ripped in two different directions.

Her green eyes connected with his, " James... I would love to go out to dinner, but my Mum... I was thinking about staying here until Monday... I mean, it would be great and ... Well we co-"

James shook his head and smiled, " No, really that's fine. That's completely understandable. At times like this I would want to be with my family too. Just owl me if you need anything. I'll come get you on Monday evening... we can go to dinner then."

Lily put her arms around him and kissed his cheek.

" Thanks, for everything."

James kissed her forehead and looked down at her, " No problem, love."

They let go of each other and James waved at Lily quickly before disappearing with a loud crack.

XxxxX

The next two days were very hard for both of them.

Lily spent her time at home cleaning the house and tending to her mother - who had decided staying in her room was the best choice, since now she had 'no reason to live' as she had said many times. Frankly Lily was getting quite sick of doing everything for everyone. Petunia was always with Vernon... in the basement, doing things you shouldn't even be thinking about after a death in the family. And it was extremely annoying, and not to mention gross, to hear it all. During the small amount of time that she had to herself over those two days she spent looking through old photo albums and remembering all of the good times she had with her father. Lily avoided sad thoughts and instead focused on all the positive ones, this helped her to keep from crying or being depressed. She actually loved remembering everything she had done with him, even though those sad thoughts would always be there nagging at her in the back of her mind, but she tried her best to ignore them.

James on the other hand did nothing but sit in one of the libraries on the second floor with his friends playing Exploding Snap, and Wizard's Chess. He missed Lily more than anything, so he tried to keep himself busy with his friends. The day before he Remus and Sirius went to a local pool hall designed especially for Wizards. They had a few drinks played a few games of Wizards Pool and returned home soon afterwards. The girls had went out shopping and had thoughtfully picked up a cute pair of trainers for Lily. Everyone was excited to have her back, even though her normal spunky self seemed to be lost in the midst of everything, they still missed her and couldn't wait to see her again.

XxxxX

It was about four o'clock Monday when James began to set off for Lily's home. The two and a half days they had been separated were extremely boring without her, so he was thrilled to see her again.

James put on a white and brown stripped shirt that buttoned up, but since he had a beater on beneath that he left it unbuttoned. He then stepped into a pair of chocolate colored pants and slipped on his shoes before he walked into the kitchen.

All of his friends were gathered at the table playing a game of exploding snap while basically inhaling bottles of butterbeer. Sirius screamed and Amanda threw her hands up excitedly as one exploded right in Sirius' face leaving an ashy residue on his forehead, nose, and chin. James grinned and shook his head as Sirius glared at Remus.

He cleared his throat just as Sirius started to stand up, " Alright, hold off on the row you're just about to start, Sirius. Blimey it's just a game!" Everyone looked up at James and smiled except Sirius who shot a some-what defeated glare at Remus before he sat back down. " I'm going to go get Lily and we're going to head out for dinner. Do you guys want me to bring anything back home with me?"

They all looked at one another and shook there heads while saying " No," in unison.

"But, do hurry, I miss Lily and I want to see her too so don't hog her!" Mallory said seriously with force that James hadn't heard in quite some time.

Amanda nodded her head so quickly James thought it might just fly off her neck and knock him out, " Yeah, and tell her I said 'hi',"

He furrowed his brow and looked at the guys who shrugged and laughed, " Um, Mandy, she's going to be back here in probably two hours... can't you tell her 'hi' then?"

" No," Amanda said as if it were a dumb question. She then sighed and waved at him with her hand, " just go and tell her we say hi, okay, it's not that hard, James."

" Sure, whatever," said James, eventhough he knew it was a stupid idea, " Well we will be back later probably around seven.

They waved and turned back to their game without any sign of them caring.

James rolled his eyes as he walked back into the entrance hall. He grabbed a bag of coins and his wand off of one of the coffee tables and snatched two mints from the bowl of candy resting beside where his gold had been. The mints and moneybag were shoved in his pocket as he concentrated on Lily's home and turned. James knew he had apparated successfully when the uncomfortable sensation of being suctioned through a thin straw ceased and the flowery essence and relaxed air of Lily's home replaced it.

He opened his eyes again and realized he was standing outside of the house on the front porch. He extended his hand and pressed the doorbell. Almost immediately foot steps could be heard. James expected to see Lily, but was disappointed to find that in place of her was her sister with her expression just as snooty and proud as ever.

The corners of her thin lips curled upwards into a smirk that made her features perhaps even more crude and unappealing than before, it was as if she was turning into a female version of Voldemort.

" I expect you're here for my disgraceful sibling?" asked Petunia, looking very pleased at this.

James shook his head and smiled back politely, holding in many offensive and hurtful things he had been dying to say to her for ages.

" No."

She sent him a look of resent, disgust and maybe a hint of confusion, " What the bloody are you talking about? ... Then who do you want?"

" Lily," James said simply as he slipped between her and the door, " I hope you won't mind if I come in."

" Didn't really give me many options, did you?" Petunia mumbled as she slammed the door shut and drug her feet over to the steps. " Your boyfriend's here," she yelled half heartedly in the direction of her sisters' room.

James swore he could hear her saying curse words and things about Lily under her breath as she shuffled her feet back into the kitchen.

As he waited, he glanced at the framed pictures and awards that hung on the walls. Very few had Petunia in them, and when there was a picture of her she was always blocking Lily from being in the shot with that smug grin on her face. James couldn't help but wonder if Petunia was adopted and was somehow related to the Malfoys, even though they were quite popular because of their straight silvery blonde hair and Petunia had the exact opposite : bushy and charcoal black. James wondered how Lily could be so extremely attractive while her sister was so repulsive.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Lily coming down the stairs, she entered the living room and the second she saw him a true smile spread across her face, something that hadn't happened in three days. She ran into his open arms and squeezed him.

" I missed you." whispered Lily into his ear.

James pulled away from her tight grip to kiss her - as well as get some air.

" I missed you too," he looked down at her and noticed she was dressed in a snug emerald colored dress, it was form fitting but no where near slutty. " you look fantastic."

Heat rose in Lily's cheeks as she thanked him " You look wonderful as well."

James checked his watch and then looked around the room, " Are you ready to go?"

Lily glanced around and then put up a finger, she walked into the kitchen and grabbed her hand purse, which matched her evening dress, and returned to his side.

" I'm leaving, Petunia," Lily shouted into the kitchen politely.

Petunia returned her kind gesture rudely, " Good, I hope you two get hit by some curse on your way to your little freak-show dinner."

Lily shook her head and rolled her eyes up at James, " Are we apparating?"

He nodded and put out his arm for her to take, she did and closed her eyes, the same uncomfortable sensation rushed into their ears. The feeling was terrible, it felt like their eardrums were about to burst and just as they thought they were going to die from a lack of oxygen a loud pop sounded and the next thing they knew they were standing in front of a Wizard pub in the middle of London Square. It of course was bewitched so the average muggle passerby wouldn't be able to tell the difference nor be able to enter the building.

James let go of her hand and opened the door for her, Lily thanked him and breathed in the exotic smell of Wiloby juice Canabari steaks which originated in South America.

A Wiloby plant was commonly found growing underground in dark, dank caves, muggles had never discovered their existence because of the depth they grew at. They slightly resembled a cross between a squash and a watermelon, they were shaped the same as the average squash but were over sized and normally were different bright colors, the most common were blue and violet, but the color options were endless.

The Canabari was found deep in the rain forests of Brazil, they were often mistaken for a moose or large buck, but the Canabari had very different traits that only Wizards would be able to notice; Wizard's have proved in the past that they pay attention to detail much more so than muggles do. First off its eyes were normally a light purple color or were a misty blue, on some occasions when it had bred with an actual moose its eyes would be a brownish color but there would always be a yellow ring around the pupil in this case. This was extremely rare and never occurred in Brazil because moose did not live in that particular habitat. Their hooves would leave odd shapes in the ground, and they had small wings on their backs. Unfortunately, for the Canabari, the wings were so small that they were completely useless. But the taste of the Canabari was delicious, tender like chicken but an exotic taste that no other meat could ever even attempt to match. Both of these South American foods were favorites of Lily's, and somehow James had discovered this.

She smirked up in his general direction, but he didn't notice, he was too busy searching for an open table. Finally he spotted one in the back of the pub. James took her arm and drug her over to the table and just as they were ready to sit down an elderly couple approached the table and seated themselves.

James ran a hand through his already ruffled hair, making it , if possible, worse.

" Great." he sighed.

Lily shrugged, " Well, maybe we'll have to have an outside table. I mean that wouldn't be a bad idea, it's nice out tonight."

He looked down at her and nodded, " Yeah, I thought about that, I didn't want to have to eat outside though, but if you don't mind I guess that's what we'll have to do."

She shook her head as she said, " Oh, no, I love being outside, it's quite alright."

With that being said the two teenagers left the pub and seated themselves comfortably outside of the building at a small two person table made out of what looked like weaved aluminum. Hanging above Lily and James were three bewitched candles that spilled light onto the table and flooded the ground surrounding them.

" This is nice, the candles are a cute little touch." said Lily as she watched a waitress approach their table.

The girl was a little taller than Lily and had straight black hair that reached just above her shoulders, she was slightly overweight and had a rude air floating about her. Instantly Lily felt resistance between the each other and wondered to herself if she had seen her somewhere before.

The girl sighed heavily and tossed them two menus, " Okay, my name's Esmalda, I'll be your waitress this evening ... blah blah blah, you know the drill. What do ya want to drink?"

James raised his brow at her crude attitude and thought to himself how he would love to slap some badly needed sense into her.

" I'll have a glass of Gillywater, and Lily.."

He looked over at Lily and noticed that she was squinting slightly open-mouthed at the waitress.

She pointed her finger at her as she said, " Esmalda ... Dodgens? Is that you?"

The girls' large chocolate eyes widened and her lip curled up in a disgusted manner, " Lily, Evans! Merlin, no."

" So, it is you," Lily hissed, closing her mouth tightly and shaking her head.

James cleared his throat and looked from Esmalda to Lily, " Will someone please tell me what's going on here?"

Lily nodded, " Yeah, this is my sister's old friend, clearly we hated each other, _Esmalda_ here isn't the nicest person, a bloody _Doxy_ would be nicer."

Esmalda glowered at her and hissed, " What do you want to drink?" Through gritted teeth.

" Single-malt wisky, and if you don't hurry up I'll personally speak with your boss."Lily gave her a dirty look combined with a satisfied smile as Esmalda turned on her heel and walked back into the pub, mumbling as she went.

There drinks came within three minutes of Lily's threat and by that time they were ready to order. Lily ordered a Canabari steak, of course, with a side of fresh tossed salad. James ordered a Diricawl burger platter, and Esmalda quickly scampered away, but did pause to send Lily a nasty look.

" So, what exactly did you two do to each other that made you hate each other so much?" asked James as he sipped at his Gillywater.

Lily rolled her eyes, " Okay, well my sister and her decided to cut off all of my hair in the middle of the night, naturally anyone would be angry at that. She got in loads of trouble... by both her mother and my own. Then as pay back I unintentionally set her on fire, she didn't know I was a witch at the time, and I didn't know she was one either. _Esmalda_ graduated from Hogwarts two years ago." finished Lily, sighing and taking a drink.

" So, did it grow back okay?" asked James as Lily wrenched her neck around to see if she was coming back with the food.

" What? Did what grow back?"

" Your hair."

Lily laughed, " Oh, yeah, I happened to have bought some hair growing stuff from Zonkos, it was some kind of cream, before I went on summer vacation. I had planned to rub it on Petunia's legs when she was asleep, I never got to it though. The cream was supposed to grow six inches each application. So, I just put it on twice, mum took me to the salon afterwards to get it trimmed up and everything was okay."

James chuckled and shook his head, " Oh, there she is,"

Lily turned and sure enough their waitress was walking quickly levitating a tray in front of her with her thin wand, which looked to be made of birch, held straight out in front of her. When she reached the table she sat the plates down roughly in front of the two while she mumbled something about, " Bloody buggers..." and as soon as she had came she was gone.

They ate their meals quickly loving every bite of the fresh meats and crisp greens, it all tasted wonderful. While they devourer everything they discussed the following day and what Dumbledore would have to say about Lily's new type of protection. After finishing, Lily and James left the table with the plates and everything on it, they knew it was rude and would never think to do something like this in any other situation but they believed she deserved it regardless of how quickly she served them. James paid the owner at the front desk and didn't bother to leave a tip, not even a single knut.

Lily took James arm and within seconds they apparated back to James' Mansion, everyone was up waiting for Lily to come back in the entrance hall so as soon as they stepped a foot into the room Lily had vanished underneath her best friends.

" Lily!" Squealed Mallory as she hugged her, " I missed you so much!"

Amanda joined in and started to squeal and jump up and down, Lily stood in the middle of it with a slight grin on her face.

In the back ground James, Remus, and Sirius were all looking at them as if they had completely lost their minds.

When she had finally escaped from their grasp she started up the stairs, " I'm going to bed, I want to leave in the morning, and I'm exhausted."

Everyone said goodnight and left so that only Lily and James were in the room. He stepped up onto the stair case and motioned for her to come over to him.

Lily wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder as she mumbled, " Thanks for dinner, it was delicious."

He shrugged, " No big deal. What time are we leaving tomorrow?" asked James.

" I was thinking about leaving around 10, is that too early?"

James laughed and shook his head, " No, that's fine. Well I better let you get to sleep I'm sure they worked you to death back there."

Lily smiled slightly and nodded, she kissed him lightly on the lips before saying goodnight and retreating to her room.

XxxxX

It had been an extremely long day for Lily so, with her nighties on she collapsed onto the bed and within seconds she was drifting off. Her mind was full of haunting memories of her father and the letter, but regardless of it all she allowed herself to fall asleep and forget about everything... even if it was for a mere nine hours.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it... soon things will go back to normal, but in the following chapter the plans for the Funeral will be brought up. Please review! You all know very well I greatly value your opinions and views on my story, so why not tell me of them? **

**Click the button below and even if you only have a single word to say, then say it! It really isn't hard:D Thanks again!**

**Always,**

**Lissa **


	17. Dumbledore's Office

**A/N: Thanks for the great reviews guys! And thanks to my readers who read it but didn't review anyway. Hopefully this chapter will be review worthy as well:D Oh, and one more thing. Alright guys, if there is one thing you have to know about my and my memory, its that it sucks! I can't remember anything, and I apologize for that. Now the reason I'm telling you this is because I forgot Mallory's last name, and I don't remember putting it in any chapters, so for the time being, unless someone tells me what her name was... this is embarrassing... or I find it myself it's going to be O'Neal. Now, have fun! Go read, and don't forget to REVIEW!**

**Chapter 17**

**Dumbledore's Office**

James woke Lily up the next morning at a quarter passed eight, he brought her breakfast on a tray and they ate the meal up in her room. After showering, dressing and saying goodbye to everyone, James took Lily's arm and they apparated off to Hogwarts.

Meanwhile the rest of the gang decided to head out to Diagon Alley for some breakfast and to get a little shopping done.

XxxxX

With a pop they opened their eyes only to see the magnificent Hogwarts castle standing right before them, looking the same as it had two weeks before.

As they started towards the massive stone building Lily thought of how much her life had changed in a matter of two weeks. It seemed like it had been years, but in reality she and James had been dating for two and a half weeks.

The pebbles lining the path to the castle crunched beneath her feet. She glanced over at James and couldn't help but wonder why he cared for her so much. He was extremely popular and could have any girl, but he chose to chase after her. He had even changed his own personality for her, but why? She knew he loved her, but _why_ did he, what was so special about her?

Lily shifted her attention back to the reason why she was there, since she obviously had no hope of answering her own questions.

James held the door open for Lily with his wand and closed it behind him.

Upon finally reaching Dumbledore's office James knocked on the door lightly. Almost instantly the door swung open on it's worn hinges and they were met by the friendly, yet tired, voice of the Hogwarts Headmaster.

" Good Morning, do have a seat." said Dumbledore pleasantly, not bothering to look up from his writing.

The two mahogany cushioned seats sitting in front of his large desk were filled by James and Lily as he said this. They watched as he rolled his parchment up and stuffed it in a drawer and then shoved his quill into a jar which stood on the corner of his desk.

Dumbledore adjusted his half-moon shaped glasses and placed his hands neatly on his desk, peering at the pair of them with his electric blue eyes.

" Shall we begin, with perhaps your protection plan, Miss Evans?"

Lily sighed, " We don't have much of a choice."

He smiled kindly dismissing her sarcasm.

" Now," Dumbledore started, sighing and resting back into his chair, " as I've already told you before in the letter I sent you, I have strong suspicions that Voldemort was not intending to murder your father. Excuse me by saying this, I know it must be hard and I sympathize but I feel the need to speak of him in this case." he added seeing the pained expression briefly cross her face.

Lily nodded as a signal for him to continue.

" In all my years, never, have I had one of my students been in such a horrifyingly threatening situation as you are in now, Miss Evans. Thus, it is quite difficult for me to come up with a protection plan for you." he paused, looked over towards James and then continued.

" And as much as I so deeply would hate to admit it, I believe Voldemort is also going after you, Mister Potter. Now, I am not entirely sure why he has decided to track Miss Evans, but I believe there is a reason why he may feel the need to go after you."

James stared at him blankly and then slowly asked, " And what would that reason be?"

" Well," he began again slowly, "if I am correct, the Potters have been purebloods for quite some time now." Dumbledore paused and looked at James as if this were a question.

" Yeah, I'm pretty sure _all_ of The potters have been... well, so far that is." he responded.

All of the sudden loud high-pitched chiming sound went off behind them, making both of the students nearly jump out of their chairs. When it had stopped Dumbledore apologized, looking very annoyed.

" Quite sorry about that. It's and old clock of my Grandmother's, it has been going off randomly for some time now... yes, I do need to get that fixed..." added the professor more or less to himself.

" Now, where were we?"

Lily crossed her legs and grinned slightly, holding back the urge to laugh.

" We were talking about James' family tree of purebloods."

The elderly headmaster nodded, and started up again.

" Yes, that's right, as I was saying then. Because you've all been purebloods for such a long period of time, I have a strong feeling that you're related to Godric Gryffindor.

Have either of your parents spoken of this to you before?"

James thought back to three years ago at Christmas. His mother had just left the main family room to retrieve butterbeers for everyone and he and his father were left alone sitting in front of the dazzling Christmas tree. It was then that Harold had spoke up. He explained why it was that everyone knew who the Potters were, it was simple, they were related to Godric Gryffindor. They're family tree went very far back, it was even possible to say that they went back a hundred or so years before Hogwarts was even thought of. Because they were related to them a very old and valuable treasure of his had been passed, generation to generation, and Harold had carefully explained to James how important it was to keep this known to no one but himself and, with caution, his closest friends. Now, James never was told what this 'Treasure' was, he just knew that he was to watch out for those dirty types of people that would do anything to get it. It was very important to everyone in his family, and sometime in the future he was supposed to pass it along to his first born son and continue the line of inheritance, just as Harold and Hannah would do someday to him.

James nodded his head and said, " Yes, but only once."

Dumbledore frowned and didn't say anything for a while. They all sat in silence until the same loud obnoxious chiming went off again. This time Dumbledore found his wand and silenced it immediately. But it continued to vibrate and the small witch kept rebounding from inside the small clock.

" That's exactly what I was afraid of," He looked at Lily, " he's not after you," Dumbledore turned to James again, " Voldemort's coming after you, James, he's using Miss Evans as bait."

His insides froze as his Headmaster spoke those words, this was the worst possible thing that could happen to him, it was the most difficult situation for him to be in. James looked over at Lily, who was rubbing her forehead and muttering to herself. He took her hand and squeezed it gently before letting go and turning back to Dumbledore.

" But, why does he want me?" asked James.

He knew perfectly well he wanted the treasure that had so long ago belonged to Godric, but James was smarter than to just come out and say that. He wanted to make sure this was the true reason before he made any false conclusions.

The aged wizard answered almost immediately, " If I am correct, you have something that once belonged to Godric Gryffindor."

James pursed his lips together and put his head in his hands, " Yes, I do."

" But why me? Why not my mother and father?" asked James, getting increasingly aggravated and angered.

It wasn't that he wanted his mother and father to get killed, that was the last thing he wished to happen. James just didn't understand why it was him that he wanted.

" I am most sorry, but I don't quite know that just yet. It may be simply because they are both in the ministry and you are the younger, more vulnerable, and possibly less challenging target."

James sighed and tried to cool down his bubbling lava-like insides, he felt sick, angry, and a bit light headed all at the same time. How was he supposed to handle this? What would happen to his relationship with Lily? What if he lost her? Questions buzzed through his head and suddenly his entire body was filled with guilt. - Lily's father had been murdered because she was dating him.

James stared blankly in front of him and then looked back at Dumbledore.

" Professor, what do we do?"

He sighed and adjusted his glasses, " For now, until I do more research, you will be put under, _Supernus Munimentium_, meaning, superior protection. It's a basic, but powerful protection spell. Even the _cruciatus _curse won't have many effects on you, but _Avada Kedavra_, or other spells that, perhaps, he has created on his own, will indeed not be blocked." Dumbledore paused and stood up, he walked out from behind his desk and stood in front of them, " Please stand."

Lily and James stood up from their chairs and waited patiently for Dumbledore to continue.

" Please join hands," he commanded quietly.

James looked into Lily's eyes and took her hands, both of their expressions were entirely unreadable neither of them looked calm or nervous for that matter. Dumbledore raised his wand and began making circles above their connected hands.

" _Supernus Munimentium_!" he shouted as he flicked his wrist.

Two strands of blue and red light twirled upwards towards the tall ceiling of the office. They twisted together and then combined into,one, long purple string of light, and as soon as this happened everything went back to normal.

Lily let out a deep breathe that she didn't know she had been holding back, she shook her head and sat down.

Dumbledore glanced at her and returned to his desk, " Are you feeling alright, Miss Evans?"

James watched with concern as she nodded slowly, her face was a scary ghostly white color and she was breathing oddly. He knew she wasn't alright.

He scooted his chair over closer to hers and took her hand, " Professor, I think she's about to faint! I need water,"

Dumbledore conjured a glass and filled it with water, quickly handing it to James.

He held it up to her mouth and she took a sip, instantly color started to come back into her face.

James sighed out of relief and pushed her hair behind her ear," Are you alright?"

Lily blinked a few times and then laughed lightly, " Er-yes, I...I don't know what came over me. Sorry Professor... Thank you for the water."

" Oh please, Miss Evans don't apologize, I should be the one doing that - I have irresponsibly forgotten to mention the side effects of the spell. It's quite strong you see, and some people pass out from it... although it is a rare occurrence." Dumbledore said sending her an apologetic look.

She shook her head, " No, no, it's fine, really. - I'm fine." Lily added noting that James was still watching her with an uneasy expression.

Lily looked back at Dumbledore and smiled, " Professor, shouldn't we discuss the matter of my father's funeral."

At first Dumbledore looked at her oddly, but then nodded, " Yes, that's right. I knew I was forgetting something... ah, the first thing that goes is your memory... yes, yes."

" Now, where would you like the ceremony to be preformed, Miss Evans?"

" Well, I was hoping it could be done at our old church. We used to go to it when I was younger, it's only about five minutes away from my house and I'm sure my mother would love it if it was done there."

He smiled, " Yes, that sounds wonderful. Did you want only family to attend or were you planning on having all of his friends coming along as well."

Lily thought for a moment, " I want everyone that knew him, my mother and myself to be there, at least, the ones that care."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, " Mister Potter, Mister Black, Mister Lupin, Miss Hemmings, Miss O'Neal, included of course?"

She nodded, " Of course."

The headmaster sighed, smiled and shifted in his seat, " Well, I will have it arranged as soon as possible, is there a specific date you would like to have the ceremony on?"

" His favorite day of the week was Friday, because it was his only day off, so yes, this Friday would be nice." She smiled sadly in memory of her father.

" Friday it is then. Now, if that's is all, I believe I am going to head out for lunch, that is, after I make the arrangements for Friday."

James and Lily stood up from their seats and walked over to the door.

" Thank you for your time, Professor." Said Lily as she walked out the door which was being held open for her.

Professor Dumbledore merely smiled at her and nodded as he took out some parchment and a quill.

XxxxX

Lily and James arrived back at the Mansion to the sight of a note floating in the middle of the entrance room. Lily turned on the lights as James took the note down and read it aloud.

_**Dear Lovers,**_

_**We decided to go to a nearby club for a couple of hours, we won't be back till after dinner, so we'll be home, probably around 6 or so. If you'd like to join us then the address is on the back of this note.**_

_**Have fun,**_

_**- Us**_

_**P.S. No sex on the couch, James, you know your Mum and Dad would disapprove of that!**_

_**-Sirius.**_

Lily laughed once and clenched her jaw, " He has some nerve doesn't he."

James just nodded quickly and swallowed nervously.

She cocked her head at him and smirked, " ... Wait, are you... oh my, ... no! ... you _are _blushing!"

With her hands on her hips she shook her head and walked up to him still smirking, " I never thought I would see you, Mister James Potter, blushing after something Sirius said... especially when it was about a sexual interaction between you and I."

He cleared his throat and straightened up, his face getting even redder, " I don't know what you're talking about."

James turned and headed towards the kitchen, " Do you want some lunch?"

" Oh, so now you're trying to change the subject! Ha, nice try. That might work on your friends, but I'm your _girl_friend, it works differently with me you know."

He sighed and she watched his shoulders droop.

" Okay, so I blushed, big woopdidoo, its not that big of a deal." James said without turning around.

Lily held back a laugh as she saw the back of his neck turn a bit pinker. She walked up to him and looked him in the eyes.

She smiled and placed her hand on his cheek, " James, I love you, don't be so embarrassed... cherry boy," she kissed him softly on the lips and giggled as he kissed her neck.

" You're so mean." he laughed.

Lily smirked, " You know you love it." she turned and walked into the kitchen, " Lunch?"

XxxxX

James and Lily fixed themselves lunch together, they made two chef salads with just about everything under the sun on them. Since it was a nice day out they decided to eat on one of the balconies on the fourth floor. From all the way up there they could see past the hills and tree tops, to the nearby city of Lewes.

" It's beautiful, isn't it?" Asked Lily, as she took a sip of her butterbeer.

James smiled, " It's always beautiful up here, even when its raining."

" Did you come up here often?"

He smiled sadly and nodded, " Yeah, whenever things would get rough between mum and dad, I would walk up here and just watch the trees sway back and forth, it always made me feel better to just be... alone."

Lily ran her hands through her hair and set down her bottle. She stood up and walked up to the railings, resting her head in her hand.

Suddenly out of the blue she said, " Thanks for everything, James."

He put down his butterbeer and furrowed his brow" Er,.. for what?"

Lily turned around and faced him, " For being there for me all this time. You were there for me when I found out, when I had to visit my family, today... and all the times in between. You were there for me during some of the hardest times of my life."

He got up and put his arms around her, " That's not something you need to thank me for."

She looked at him seriously, " Oh, yes it is. There aren't many guys who will put up with a wimpy assed girlfriend, like you have!"

James chuckled loudly, Lily watched as dimples appeared in his cheeks and she smiled to herself, she couldn't have got herself a better boyfriend he was sweet, irresistibly sexy, and innocently cute all at the same time.

" Wimpy assed? You really think you're 'wimpy assed'? Love, you definitely aren't." He shook her and ruffled her hair, " You're the strongest girlfriend I've ever had."

Lily laughed, " Oh, my, you must have had some really wimpy assed girlfriends then!"

" No, not really."

She grinned and shoved him playfully, " But, really thank you."

" There's no need for it." he caressed her cheek softly with his hand his soft chocolate eyes connected with her bright green eyes. " Don't you remember sitting by my side and tending to my every need, whether I really, truly needed it or not, all night long in St. Mungos? You were there for me then, and I'll always be there for you, no matter what."

" But don't you remember why you ended up there? You defended me against Lucius. See you were there for me before anything happened." she brushed his cheeks with her hands and slid them behind his neck.

He smirked at her, getting closer to her face. " Don't you remember why I needed to defend you?"

She shook her head, " Actually, no, you knew it would get you hurt."

" Because I loved you then, and I love you now. And because of that, no matter what time of day, what type of day, what horrible situation you're in, I'll always be there to sweep you off your feet and kill the bad guy, even if it's Voldemort himself... Or at least I'll try. And let me tell you, I'll put up a hell of a fight too."

Lily grinned and paused for a long time, " Why do you have to be so damn... sweet... romantic, whatever it is. I never know what to say back."

He put his lips up to her ear, " You don't have to say anything, just kiss me."

And that's what she did, she turned her head and he did the same. James could feel her smiling into the kiss. James pulled away and kissed her forehead.

Lily flashed him a smile, " I love you."

He kissed her cheek, " And I love you."

XxxxX

They stood together watching the clouds roll by and listening to the birds chirp merrily until the peacefulness was broke, everything grew silent as a large black owl swooped down and perched itself on the railings of the balcony. Even the trees seemed to stop moving.

Lily looked up at James warily, they both were thinking the same exact thing. Last time something like this had happened it had been life changing.

James squeezed her hand comfortingly, " I'll open it."

She nodded, " Read it aloud..."

" Are you sure?"

Lily nodded again and sat down, she didn't want to faint if this time it were her mother that had been murdered.

He looked from Lily to the charcoal colored bird, its eyes were a piercing yellow that made him nervous for no apparent reason. James eyed it carefully as he patted its head and took the parchment from the barrel tied to its leg.

As he unrolled it he sent Lily a reassuring glance.

The writing was slightly slanted, and quite curvy, he almost, for a second, thought it was from Dumbledore, but soon noticed the printing wasn't as neat as Dumbledore's handwriting.

He cleared his throat and read it aloud.

_**Dear Mister Potter and Miss Evans:**_

_**This is a reminder that you will be expected to attend the hearing at the Ministry tomorrow afternoon at 11:30. You are to be there promptly at this time, it is not an option. If you are to be late the hearing will be canceled and you will be immediately found guilty without a trial, you have one chance to prove yourself, so it is highly important that you attend. It will be held in courtroom ten. Directions are enclosed. Once again, you must be there, no excuses.**_

_**Sincerely,**_

_**Ms. Florence Baggens**_

_**Ministry of Magic Secretary. **_

James didn't know whether to sigh out of relief that no one had died or run in circles worrying about what he was to say at the trial. He looked at Lily, who seemed relieved but at the same time worried to death.

" You don't suppose they sent one to the rest of us, do you?" James asked, pulling the directions sheet from behind the letter.

Lily shrugged, " Well, I would think so."

Without warning they heard a distant _crack, _then another, and two more, and as soon as that was silenced they could hear their names being screamed out by their four friends.

James sighed, " I guess that answers our question."

**A/N: Alright, the next one will be about... you guessed it, the hearing. Sorry for the wait once again, and for the length, the next one should be longer! Thanks for reading. Please _Review_ !**

**Lissa**


	18. The Hearing: Part I

**A/N: Alright, I am a bad person, I haven't updated in over a month, that's horrible! I apologize for the extreme delay. School is coming to a close and I have lots of tests to study for, if I don't do well on them I won't pass the class so that takes lots of time to study, obviously. Heh, but still I feel bad for taking so long. But there's good news! Chapter 18 is ready for you all to read! Yay, ... but there's also bad news... Chapter 18 had to be broken in half because it would be way to long if I were to continue, so I have to make Chapter 19 contain the rest of the Hearing. _So_ sorry, please make sure you read and review regardless of this because I really tried hard on this chappie.**

**Chapter 18**

**The Hearing: Part I**

It was four O'clock when everyone had finally situated themselves in a family room on the first floor of the Mansion. It was chaos: Sirius was scratching him self on the face and arms as he broke out in big, red, blotchy hives, Mallory was talking extremely fast about how they would lose the trial and die in Azkaban, Amanda was pale white and seemed to be talking to herself, Remus was searching aimlessly through books on the book shelves even though books would help none in this situation, and all this time James and Lily stood back in the doorway completely silent watching their frantic friends.

" Um, guys?" James said slightly aggravated, "Why don't we just calm down."

This did absolutely nothing, they didn't even seem to acknowledge him at all.

He furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to say it again but Lily grabbed his arm, he looked down, his mouth still hanging half open and she shook her head.

" I'll do it," Lily said.

He nodded and stepped back.

She cleared her throat and shouted, " Hey guys! Shut up!"

Mallory looked at her wide eyed and did as she said immediately, Sirius froze in mid scratch, Amanda looked up but was still quite pale, and Remus jumped and dropped a book on his toe. He yelped and grabbed his foot.

" Argh! Bloody He-"

Lily shot him a look of disgust and he stopped mid sentence. " Why don't we all sit down and figure this out calmly, without scratching, researching or talking mindlessly to ourselves."

Mallory raised an eyebrow at her, " Calmly? Er, Lils, have you noticed the situation at hand?"

" Yeah, actually I have. We have to be in courtroom ten tomorrow ready to defend ourselves over a trail where a fight happened over pure hatred without a true reason."

James cleared his throat, " It was in your defense,"

" Whatever, you know what I mean." she snapped.

He looked taken aback but silenced himself and sat down so she could continue.

" So basically we're screwed," said Sirius as he scratched a hive on his wrist.

Everyone started to mumble agreements to this until they caught the expression on Lily's face and again shut up.

" Okay, look you have two choices," She put up a finger, " One: we can sit here and argue over whether we're screwed or not and end up in Askaban tomorrow or, Two: we can talk this out like civilized people and plan what we are going to say tomorrow so we put Lucius in prison. You pick."

They lowered their heads and didn't answer, Lily took this as them choosing number two.

" Okay then, let's get down to business."

XxxxX

It was about a quarter past ten, everyone but James and Lily were asleep. It had been an extremely exhausting evening, with all the stress of preparing themselves for the hearing. Lily was laying with James on his bed looking over the notes they had taken reviewing a few main parts of the fight at Hogsmeade that would surely be brought up the following day.

Lily sighed as she pulled her hair into a ponytail, at the same time she read aloud a section of the notes, " Okay, so eventhough the first spell, _Oppungo_, was cast by you, the Cruciatus Curse was cast three times by Lucius, two of which hit you. Then two more hit you and that was when you were knocked unconscious." She sighed, " Well, it _is_ in your favor, James."

Lily leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes as a nervous habit her hand found its way to her hair, she then started to twirl strands of her red hair around her fingers.

James smiled and watched as she did this, she looked worried and over nothing. He never understood why women got so worked up over things like this. It was clear that Lucius would be put in prison, he had no way out of it this time.

Lily opened her eyes and saw James watching her with an amused expression.

" What?"

This only made him smile perhaps more broadly, not only were two of her fingers tangled in her hair, she was wearing a most hilarious expression of pure innocence and confusion.

" Nothing."

She smirked and untangled her fingers skillfully, " No, really what?"

He laughed and took hold of her hand, " Stop fidgeting, and worrying. Everything will be alright."

Lily shook her head and pulled her hand back, " Yeah right, I'll stop worrying when everything is over. How do you know, for sure, that he will be put in prison?"

" He used an Unforgivable Curse what did you say, four, five times? You get life in prison for that, Lils." stated James.

" It was three, and that doesn't matter, you and I both know that his father and Fudge are ol' buddies." said Lily, jumping off the bed and rolling down the covers, " Get off,"

James stepped off the bed and helped her pull back the quilt, " But, Lily that doesn't mean anything. Regardless of his father they have to put him in jail, its the law," James waited for her to get in after he had but she didn't she just turned around, " Are you planning on sleeping in here?"

Lily nodded, " Uh,Yeah... hold on, I'll be right back." then she sped out of the room and into her own.

James heard the bathroom door shut and sighed heavily, thoughts were buzzing through his head. If Lily was right about this, that meant that anytime in the future this same thing could happen again. And it was sure to happen again if he wasn't put in prison, Lucius wasn't one to stop bullying his favorite targets.

The bathroom door clicked open and Lily walked into the bedroom slowly closing the door and running a hand through her hair, she crawled into bed and switched off the light.

" What was that all about?" asked James.

She rolled over closer to him and snuggled her head next to his chest, " Oh, I just forgot to brush."

He rolled his eyes in the darkness, " Oh, okay, well, goodnight."

" Goodnight James, love you,"

He bent his head down and kissed her, " Love you, too, get some sleep."

James was just about asleep when Lily prodded him in the side, " What?"

" What would our parents do if they found out we were sleeping together?" she asked quietly.

He winced at the thought, " Well, first they would make us break up. Then they would skin me, and bury me alive. And they would probably never let you date again."

She nodded, " And that's why we aren't going to tell them."

James laughed, " Quite right, love."

XxxxX

The girls were up early the next morning, along with Remus, but James and Sirius had decided they didn't feel like getting up so they were still up in their rooms asleep.

Amanda and Lily were fixing breakfast while Mallory and Remus set the table, well, more like argued about how to set the table.

" Remus, I'm telling you it goes: knives and forks on the right side and spoons on the left!"

Remus rolled his eyes, " No, it's salad fork, dinning fork, steak knife, butter knife on the right side and soup spoon on the left."

" Well, then where does the dessert spoon go smarty!" Mallory shouted.

He slapped his forehead, " I already went over this a million times it go-"

" Alright, you lot, who really cares? I mean none of us are going to use a steak knife or dessert spoon, and since when do you two care what order the silverware goes?" said Amanda, pulling the two of them back into reality.

Mallory shrugged, " Ha, you're right, Mandy, I guess I just needed to bicker with someone since I'm so used to driving Sirius insane."

Remus laughed, " I was just bored."

Both of them slumped down into their chairs and watched Amanda and Lily fix breakfast.

Remus and Mallory both knew that Amanda and Lily weren't very good cooks so they waited for disaster to strike, knowing it would, and within a few minutes it did:

It all started when Amanda went to turn over a piece of bacon. The grease popped on her hand, not only did this hurt extremely bad but it startled her so, as a reaction she screamed bloody murder and threw the tongs behind her. The tongs hit an over-head iron pan and sent it falling to the ground, unfortunately it didn't hit the ground it hit Lily's hand, and this of course just about broke every bone in her hand so she started to yell out foul words. Lily ran over to the freezer and stuck her hand in the ice bucket.

As Amanda threw the tongs she jumped and kicked the oven in the process, this only made the situation worse, the pan was jolted and fell onto the floor sending hot grease onto her foot.

Amanda yelped and grabbed her foot, Lily screamed as it poured over her feet. Seeing as both of their cooks were jumping up and down in hot grease screaming at the top of their lungs, Remus and Mallory decided to take over.

Just then Sirius walked into the kitchen, James following not to far behind. They couldn't help but laugh at the scene, if you were to just stand back and look at them it was hilarious, even though it was mean to laugh... since after all they were hurt badly.

Lily was screaming one hand stuck in the freezer the other grabbing her foot and at the same time she was jumping up and down. Amanda was hopping in circles, also clutching to her foot. The oven door was open and there was grease everywhere, the entire place was full of smoke and steam. And Remus and Mallory were both trying to clean up the huge mess.

As soon as the mess had been cleaned and the two girls were healed, James and Sirius took one look at each other before collapsing to the floor. They were laughing so hard it was almost painful.

Lily cursed under her breath and rubbed her hand, making sure it was completely healed, " Thanks Mallory, Remus."

Amanda blushed, " Sorry Lils,"

She shrugged and waved it off, " S'okay, accidents happen," Lily turned and glared at the two boys rolling on the floor. " But those two aren't going to get away with what they did as easily."

She walked up to James and kicked him in the head, meanwhile Amanda pulled Sirius up by his hair.

" Oiy! Not the hair, Amanda! Not the hair! Let go! Ah!" at this she merely raised a brow and tugged harder.

Lily grabbed her boyfriend's ear and lifted him as well, " Ow! Okay, okay! Stop! That hurts! Hey, don't you... _no_! I'm sorry Lily!"

Lily picked up a pair of scissors and held them to his hair, glaring at him.

James gave her the puppy dog face, but she only glared harder, " That wasn't funny, James." she let go of him and threw the scissors on the ground.

But Amanda gave no mercy she was sitting on top of Sirius, who had tried to escape, only now she had the scissors Lily had put down. Sirius was wailing and screaming out sorry over and over.

Mallory and Remus stood back laughing hysterically, Mallory didn't make a move to stop Sirius, and Remus didn't make a move to stop Lily. James and Sirius made a big mistake and now they were going to pay for it.

Amanda finally let go of him when he claimed he was the scum of the Earth and she was the heavenly goddess he was to worship. She still looked aggravated and kept sending him death glares.

Lily on the other hand had sat down at the table and refused to look at James, this was a much worse punishment on James part.

" Oh, come on Lily. I'm sorry, see I said I was sorry." said James

Lily rolled her eyes and turned to Mallory and Remus, " Do you think you could fix some pancakes with your wands? I don't feel like cooking again just yet, I'm sure Mandy doesn't either."

Amanda shook her head, smiling sarcastically.

" Sure no problem."

James sighed, " Lily..." he whined " Lily flower...? You know you love me."

At this she looked the other way and crossed her arms.

" Okay, what do you want me to say?" he asked beginning to get angry.

Mallory giggled, as she saw Lily's triumphant grin, Lily had to turn away from him because she couldn't help but smile at his last comment.

Remus waved his wand and the plates were filled with food. Sirius side stepped past Amanda with his hands in the air, the entire time she was scowling at him.

" Jerk."

He laughed nervously, " Call me whatever you want... just don't get the scissors out."

James threw his hands in the air and growled, " Lily, come on! Say something!"

Mallory smiled and looked at her, trying extremely hard to keep her mouth shut, " Lils, pass the syrup will you?"

Lily wiped the smile off her face skillfully and handed the skinny bottle to her, as she did so she saw Sirius scooting farther away from Amanda, who was sitting next to him,unwillingly. She couldn't help but grin at this, and of course James saw.

" Ah! See you can't be mad at me!" James said smiling broadly.

She rolled her eyes and scowled.

He frowned and then narrowed his eyes at her, " Fine, I won't eat until you say you forgive me." he pushed his plate away and sat back with his hands behind his head.

Remus snorted, " That was dumb..."

He glared at him, but Remus didn't care, he just ignored it and smirked as he bit into his toast, making sure to make it crunch loud enough to where he could hear it... James could never resist food.

Lily looked at him with an amused expression and started to eat her own breakfast.

His eyes widened, he was sure that she would do something when he said that.

James whined loudly at this, " Lily!"

She smirked at him, " You can starve then, that's your own fault, .. arrogant."

He scowled and snorted.

Sirius laughed at this but only gained another death stare from both Amanda and James.

He laughed nervously again and then mumbled, " Er... sorry."

" Lily.. Love, you can't let me starve,... you're too kind." The last part seemed to be added to reassure himself.

She looked at him and sighed, " If I say I forgive you.. but I really don't mean it will you shut up?"

He shook his head, " No, you have to mean it."

" Well, then I guess you're going to starve." Lily smiled at him with aggravation and continued eating.

She felt bad for treating him like this, it was hard for her to go back to old ways.

James stood up and got down on his knees, at this everyone stopped eating and watched with amused expressions.

He put his hands together and looked up at her, " I can't believe I'm doing this..." he mumbled to himself.

" Lily, I'm extremely sorry, I will never laugh at you again when you get hurt... er ... I promise, I was stupid to do that... please forgive me."

She rolled her eyes and stared at him with one brow raised for some time, " Pleeeeaaassseee?" he whined quietly after a while.

Sirius coughed saying " Whipped," as he did so.

James scowled at him " Oh, just sod off,"

Lily grinned at Sirius and then turned back to James, " Oh, get up you prat, I guess I forgive you."

He smiled and threw his arms around her, " Ha! I knew you would!" James kissed her cheek and she rolled her eyes.

" Ah, gerroff, I don't forgive you _that _much." she mumbled, pushing him away.

She did forgive him and thought it was funny that he was so persistent to get her to forgive him, but she couldn't boost his confidence up too much, he needed his ego to be dented a bit once in a while. Plus it was way too much fun to tease him.

James shrugged and sat back down, " Okay, fine."

XxxxX

Breakfast went by smoothly after that, although Sirius did seem to be permanently damaged by the scissor incident. Every once in a while Amanda would grab them off the table and snip them at him, then he would get up, run in circles screaming and run out of the room. It was very entertaining just to sit back and watch, but soon the fun was over, it was eleven O'clock so everyone went back up to their rooms and got ready for the hearing.

The guys were ready in about five minutes but of course the girls took all but ten minutes of their left over time so that when they came back down stairs they had to rush. Everyone apparated to the Ministry immediately afterwards, and within seconds they were piling into the small red beat up telephone booth with broken windows and painted on graffiti.

James, Sirius and Remus went first, they dialed "62442" and the smooth voice of a young woman filled the box.

" Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

James furrowed his brow, and picked up the receiver, " Erm... Visitors, James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, here to attend a disciplinary hearing."

" Thank you," the voice said, " Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes."

Then there was the sound of change rattling and three square silver badges were found sitting in the metal chute at the bottom of the telephone with their names printed on them.

The woman spoke again as they were clipping them to their robes.

" Visitors to the Ministry, you are all required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."

The bottom of the box started to shake and then jerked and began to go down slowly, " Have a nice day,"

James looked around and watched blackness turn into a slit of light at the bottom of the box, then it got bigger until light flooded into the small box and just about blinded them all. The door opened smoothly on its hinges and they stepped out.

" I'm guessing this is the Atrium, magnificent isn't it?" Asked Remus.

James nodded, " Yeah."

The room they had entered was indeed magnificent, it wasn't a wide room but rather very long and was painted in a bright blue color, highlighted in golds. It had a dark polished wood floor which James figured would probably be nice to skate on since it was so smooth. Witches and Wizards were popping out of the fireplaces that lined the walls which were covered in panels of dark wood that matched the glossy floor.

Looking past the puffs of green smoke and sound of coughing they could see a extravagant fountain standing in the middle of the room.

Sirius laughed, " Some fountain, eh?"

" Yeah, must have cost a fortune..." James agreed.

The sound of an elevator descending came from behind them, they turned around to see their girlfriends stepping out of the box with wide eyes.

Mallory slapped the girls playfully, " Guys, we are so working here when we get older."

They all laughed and rolled their eyes, " Alright, why don't we go get this... search thing done, we don't want to be late."

Amanda looked at her watch and jumped, " Er, we have like seven minutes to get down there."

Lily and Mallory looked at each other, " Shit," they said in unison.

Everyone then started to run towards the opposite side of the room, but stopped about ten feet after that.

" Guys wait!" Amanda yelled.

They turned on their heals and looked at her expectantly, " Shouldn't we make sure this is the Atrium, and... possibly check, you know just to be clear, that we're going the right way?" she said sarcastically.

Sirius sighed agitatedly, " We have seven bloody minutes to get down there, we don't have time, now let's go!"

Mallory slapped him upside the head, " You prat! If we're going the wrong way then we're going to end up late anyway."

He winced and smiled in a sort of scared way, " Er, right."

James rolled his eyes and flagged down a young brown haired witch that had just flooed out of the nearest fireplace.

" Excuse me, Miss!"

The girl turned and looked at him, regaining hold on her bulky briefcase and brushing a piece of hair out of her eyes, " Yes?"

James sighed, " Do you happen to know the way to the Security Desk?"

She nodded and started to walk away as she pointed in the direction they had been heading moments before, " Just go to the end of the room, you can't miss it, it's a dead end."

Smiling he thanked her and turned back to his friends, " Alright let's go now."

" Well, wasn't that just a wonderful waste of our precious time.." Mumbled Sirius at Amanda as they ran towards the desk.

She glared at him and tried to hit him but he ducked, stuck his tongue out at her and ran on.

The second they got past the massive fountain, they could see a huge sign with the words " SECURITY DESK" in bright yellow letters. Under the sign leaning on a pillar was a tall man with a bald head and a muggle suit. He was wearing a pair of sun glasses, and had a thin rod in his hand. To the right side of him was, you guessed it, the desk. And on top of it were piles of parchment, empty bottles of ink, broken quills and a set of golden scales.

As the six of them slowed to a stop the man stood upright and held his hand out to them.

" I need to weigh your wands before you may proceed."

Remus stepped up first and handed his to the man, the guard took it roughly and placed it on the set of golden scales. The was a meter at the top of it that said "Bad" on the left side "Acceptable" in the middle and "Perfect Condition" on the right, sitting in the middle was a red arrow pointing in no particular direction. As soon as Remus's wand hit the scales the arrow sprung to life and began to wave back and forth until it settled between " Acceptable" and "Perfect Condition".

The Security Guard took the wand from the scales, held it up to his ear and gave it a light shake before nodding and handing it back to Remus.

After returning the wand he started to wave the thin rod that he was holding in front of Remus from head to foot, then he turned Remus around and checked the back.

He stood upright and tall again before saying," You may proceed through the door behind my desk, have a nice day." he paused and turned to Lily, " Next."

The rest of them went through the same process and after they had finished with the weighing and scanning they had exactly five and a half minutes left to reach the court room.

The six of them rushed through the doorway and to the end of the hall where there was a golden lift, Remus began to push the down button impatiently.

" Let's go already!" he screamed agitatedly.

Amanda grabbed his arm and raised her brow at him, " Calm down, Remy."

He nodded and rolled his eyes as the lift opened with a screech. All of them filed in and again Remus began to push a button violently.

James poked him in the shoulder, " Uh, make sure you're pressing the right one."

" Well, I'm hoping this will be the right floor, if its not... I guess we're pretty much screwed."

The lift jerked and began to raise at a fast pace, each level a little light with the floor number that the were on would light up and finally the doors slid open and they were greeted by the 9th floor.

The smooth female voice that had earlier filled the telephone booth, filled the lift, " Level Nine, Department of Mysteries."

" This is it, come on let's go, we have three minutes." Remus said leading them to the court room.

He had pulled out the directions sheet from the letter and was reading at a fast pace.

They went up a corridor with painfully bare walls and no windows, the floor boards creaked with each step and Lily couldn't help but wonder if people had fallen through the weak floor in the past. There was only one door in the hallway and it was at the very end, everyone was expecting to go through it but instead Remus led them to the left where there was a flight of stairs.

Upon reaching the bottom of the steps they were greeted by another corridor which seemed as if it were taken from the Hogwarts castle, it greatly resembled the Slytherin dungeon hallways. It had a low ceiling and rough stone walls which were dripping with condensation, slightly lit torches led them to a set of tall heavy wooden doors with iron bolts and keyholes covering them. Surely this would be courtroom ten.

But no, they passed this set and came to another set of tall grimy doors with a huge iron lock laying on the ground, Remus came to a stop and turned to face them.

" This is it guys, this is courtroom ten."

Mallory sighed, " Alright, let's knock these buggers off their feet with our impressive defensive story."

Lily laughed lightly, but on the inside she was questioning whether they would be walking out of this room remaining free.

**A/N: Okay, Please review, I promise to get the next chapter out asap! I'm doing the best I can guys, please stick with me. Alright, thank you and have fun reading and reviewing.**

**Lissa**


	19. The Hearing: Part II

**Chapter 19**

**The Hearing: Part II**

Remus went for the handle but, as if it were on a timer, the handle turned and the double doors swung open.

Lily's eyes widened and she gulped down a lump in her throat that didn't seem to want to go away. The huge dungeon was dimly lit by old torches and the walls were made of dark stone that had water drizzling in between the cracks. Benches surrounded her on every side, to her left, in front of her, above her and to her right. The room smelled of a combination of mildew, rotten fish, and dirty socks, not the most appealing set of scents.

Most of the benches were empty but directly in front of her sat about fifty dark shadows that she guessed were people, all of them were mumbling under their breath.

On the floor there were chairs set out for each of them, on the left side of the room there were six chairs which already had been filled and then there were six more on the right side of the room. The thing that made her most nervous about this room was that each of the chairs had chains dangling off to the side and she could swear that on the back of one of the seats was dried blood. Lily passed it off as dirt that had been somehow smudged onto the chair, but she knew it wasn't.

As the heavy doors came to a loud close the mumbling and muttering stopped and everyone turned towards them.

Fudge's sharp voice filled the room as he came into view.

" Right on time, a minute more and you would be considered late." he looked at them expectantly and then went on, motioning to the empty chairs, " take a seat."

Remus looked back behind him nervously and began to walk forward, their steps echoed loudly across the uneven floor. Remus took the far left seat, Amanda sat down next to him and squeezed his and comfortingly. James sat down next and then Lily, he smiled at her in a reassuring way and turned his attention to Fudge. Next came Mallory, and last Sirius, they looked at each other nervously and stared at the front of the room like the others.

Lily looked towards the other side of the room and, just as she expected, Lucius and his father sat together, heads held high. Along side of them were Snape, Narcissa, and Bellatrix, all of which were sitting tall and confidently as well, perhaps a little too confidently.

A chill went down her spine as Lucius unexpectedly snapped his head in her direction and glared while putting his hands around his neck in a choking motion and then pointing towards James. She glared back and looked up at Fudge who seemed to have seen none of it, Lily could feel Lucius' eyes on her but she ignored him and proceeded to look straight ahead.

" Are you ready?" he asked.

Remus nodded, " Yes, Sir."

Fudge turned towards Lucius' father and asked the same question. He nodded and smirked evilly at him, " Yes, Sir, indeed."

James looked at the people surrounding the Minister and noticed each and every one of them had on plum colored robes with a elaborately stitched W on the left hand side of their chest._ "They must be those Wizengamot people Dad's always talking about"_ James thought to himself.

Cornelius looked down the row in which he was sitting and smiled back at a young witch with curly dark brown hair and small glasses, she had a quill ready in her right hand and parchment in the other.

" Are _you_ ready Ms. Baggens?"

She nodded eagerly and smiled back at him, " Yes."

Fudge fidgeted anxiously in his seat and smiled slightly, " Very well then, let us begin."

" Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of June," Fudge began in an important voice, the woman who must've been his secretary began to scribble onto the parchment quickly, " into offenses committed under the Decree for the Illegal use of the Unforgivable Curse, Cruciatus by Lucius Malfoy, Resident of 7107 Ridgedale Avenue, Malfoy Manor, Arredila, Surrey. Those present are as follows: James Harold Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Lily Rose Potter, Mallory Elain O'Neal, Amanda Lyn Hemmings, Marcellus Malfoy and Lucius Marcellus Malfoy."

He shuffled some papers around, cleared his throat and then continued, " Interrogators are as follows: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic: Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Head of the Ministry of Magic Treasury, and Florence M. Baggens, Court Scribe."

Fudge began to look through the pile of parchment again, " The charges against the accused, Lucius Malfoy, are as follows: That he knowingly, deliberately and in full awareness of the illegality of his actions having been taught of them in previous courses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry committed one of the three Unforgivable Curses against a fellow student on June the third at two minutes previous to seven, which constitutes an offense in paragraph B of the Decree for the Illegal use of the Unforgivable Curses, 1807, and also under section four of the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy."

" You are Lucius Marcellus Malfoy of seven-one-zero-seven, Ridgedale Avenue, Malfoy Manor, Arredila, Surrey, are you not?" Asked the Minister looking down curiously at Lucius.

" Yes, sir." he replied in almost a hissing voice.

Fudge put down the parchment and looked down at him again, " And have you not been taught of the illegality of the use of the Unforgivable Curses?"

Lucius nodded, " Yes,"

" But, regardless of this knowledge you still casted the Cruciatus Curse at James Potter, correct?"

Lucius smirked evilly, " Yes, Sir, but I believe you have over looked the fact that _Mister_ James Potter, cast a defensive spell against Severus Snape without any solid reason."

Fudge glared down at him, " Lucius I suggest you answer my questions directly and not fall out of line, I will interrogate James Potter and the rest of you later."

Still holding his head high he proceeded to smirk at the Minister, who was, by this time, getting slightly agitated.

Fudge turned to James and smiled down at him, " Now, Mister Potter, is it true that this curse was cast at you by Lucius Malfoy?"

James nodded solemnly, " Yes, Sir, three times."

" And in defense against him you used a variety of curses did you not?"

" Yes,"

Fudge sighed heavily, " What was your reasoning as to beginning this duel?"

James saw Lily lower her head shamefully out of the corner of his eye, he smiled at her reassuringly and squeezed her hand.

" The six of us were out shopping on that day and happened to run across Lucius and his gang, the second he saw us he began to harass Lily Potter by saying things such as filthy mudblood. At the time I was over come with anger and hostility towards him and I unwisely cast the first spell." James said honestly, waiting for Fudge's response.

He shuffled through the stack of papers again and brought up a new one while a female witch off to the left side of him came into view.

" Why did you feel it was necessary to defend her so, could she not do it herself?"

James shook his head, " Well, to begin with we were and are still dating, and naturally it didn't go over well with me, but as far as her defending herself, no, she is still unfortunately under aged and was without a wand at the time."

The woman nodded and looked toward Lucius, " And what was _your_ reasoning for saying such things against Miss Evans?"

Lucius glared over at Lily and then looked back up at him, " I was only stating the truth, she was and remains a mudblood. It is not an opinion, it is a fact, her parent's are both muggles and she is a witch, this, makes her a mudblood."

Fudge cleared his throat, " I will not stand for such discrimination in my courtroom, one more mentioning of that towards someone in this room and you will be found guilty without a trial." he turned his attention towards Lucius's father who was smirking almost with pride. " Marcellus do you approve of such things in your household?"

Lucius's father held his head high, and Lily couldn't help but think, _I now understand the phrase, Like father Like son._

" I am not entirely sure of what you are questioning me- _Sir_" he added with attitude.

" Do you encourage discriminating phrases and the use of the Unforgivable curses in your household, Mister Malfoy?" Fudge clarified with a warning look on his face.

" Ah," Marcellus said, smirking once again. Speaking slowly and quietly he proceeded to answer, " I believe it is perfectly reasonable to express yourself in unique ways, and I do not think using the phrase, " Filthy Mudblood" is discriminating in any possible way, my son was merely stating a fact, as he has said."

" Is that a yes, Marcellus?" Fudge growled at him very impatiently.

He nodded, as if the answer was quite obvious, " Yes."

Fudge smiled, " Then, I believe we are finished here."

The Minister stood, leaning over the ledge and glowering down at Mister Malfoy who had a look of utter shock and confusion on his face. Lily gasped and grabbed James arm in anticipation of the verdict.

" All in agreement of clearing all charges from Mister Potter, Lupin, Black, Miss Evans, Hemmings and O'Neal, please raise your hands."

Looking around the courtroom Lily noticed that everyone but a few people had raised their hands, she sighed heavily and turned to James who's eyes were the size of dinner plates. James looked at Lily and laughed quietly, he kissed her forehead out of pure happiness as she wrapped her arms around him.

Fudge continued to speak as they did this, " All in agreement of charging Mister Lucius Malfoy for the illegal use of the Unforgivable Curse, Cruciatus please raise your hands," The result was the same and James could've sworn he saw a grin sneak onto Fudge's aged face.

The Minister continued once more, glaring down at Mr. Malfoy Sr., " All in agreement of charging Mister Marcellus Malfoy with the endangerment of youths and the encouraging of the usage of such curses please raise your hands,"

An uncomfortable silence swept through the room as everyone raised their hands, Fudge simply beamed at this, but only for a brief moment. Marcellus was sending death glares to every person in the room and Narcissa and Bellatrix were glaring at Fudge, Lily was sure no one would be surprised if lasers shot out of their eyes and burned a hole in the Minister's head.

" Very, well then, Marcellus Malfoy you are hereby sentenced to thirty five years in Azkaban for admittingly encouraging a youth to use the Unforgivable Curses and for the endangerment of other youths. As for you Lucius, your wand will be suspended from your use of it for five years and you are expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If you shall, for whatever reason, cast any form of magic between now and the next five years, you will be placed in Azkaban, regardless of your age. For all of the people who accompanied Mr. Malfoy in this attack you are hereby on probation. There will be no charges against the opposing side. Have a good day."

The Wizengamot and Fudge began to file out of the courtroom when Narcissa stood and began to shout at Fudge.

" You can't do that! You don't have the power to expel a student! And this wasn't even Mr. Malfoy's trial, you can't send him to Azkaban!"

Angry voices began to fill the room, James rolled his eyes and shook his head. Suddenly out of nowhere a booming voice echoed through the courtroom.

" Silence!"

It was Dumbledore, who had been sitting behind them in the top part of the bleachers the entire time.

Everyone obey immediately, even the Wizengamot. Dumbledore turned his attention towards the fuming Narcissa.

" Dumbledore tell Fudge he can't do this, dammit! He can't do this to him!" Bellatrix shouted angrily, joining her sister.

Dumbledore frowned at them disapprovingly and spoke in a quiet but powerful voice, " Watch your language Miss Black, and I'm afraid all of the charges Mister Fudge has given out are fully legal, charges have been held against Mister Malfoy Sr. previously for such things and it's about time he's been sentenced to Azkaban. As for Lucius, well, I myself have approved his removal from my school."

At this Lucius stood up and turned to face the Headmaster, he glared up at him and smirked, " Yes, I'm sure you've been waiting for this moment for a long time now haven't you, _Dumbledore_?" he hissed, pushing his chair out of the way as he started up towards Dumbledore.

Lily looked at James with concern but was met by a smile, " Ah, don't worry Lils, he can't hurt Dumbledore."

By now everyone except Fudge, Dumbledore and the people that had been involved in the case had left and Lucius was still fuming. Fudge stood back standing near the doors with an amused expression waiting to take Lucius and his father into custody.

" You never did like me, it's always been about _precious Potter, and precious Evans_, hasn't it? Well good riddance! The Dark Lord will praise me for my actions, and you will only be digging yourself your own grave you _filthy mudblood-hugger_," With that he spat on Dumbledore's shoe and strutted out of the courtroom, shoving Fudge out of the way in the process.

Dumbledore merely shook his head at this and flicked his wand at his shoe, he smiled down at the six of them that had been freed and then disappeared on the spot.

Fudge had ran after Lucius with his wand out and naturally Bella, Narcissa and Snape had followed behind.

XxxxX

Thirty minutes after arriving back at the mansion things had gone back to normal. Sirius was annoying Mallory, Amanda was yelling at Remus over a move that he supposedly had made while she wasn't looking during their game of Wizards chess and Lily and James were sitting on a couch nearby taking in everything. The positive results from the trial put everyone in good spirits again.

Lily looked over at James who was holding onto his side doubled over on the floor laughing, she smiled and prodded him in the back.

Glancing up at her, he took a deep breath to calm himself down and hopped back onto the couch, wiping away tears of laughter as he asked, " Yeah?"

Smiling she said, " So, do you think they're up for a dinner at that new muggle restaurant in the square?"

He shrugged, " Let's ask."

" Hey guys!" James shouted, making everyone jump. Lily laughed quietly and slapped her forehead.

Sirius gave him a dirty look, " Bloody hell, must we yell? ... Hey, I just rhymed! Ha!"

James rolled his eyes, ignoring his friend's stupid comment, " Whatever, sorry, Lily and I were wondering if you guys wanted to run down to that new restaurant in the square."

Amanda looking at Remus and shook her head slowly, " Nah, I think I'll stay here and finish this game."

Mallory smiled as she punched Sirius in the shoulder, " Same for me, I'm not done bugging this moron yet. Hey Mandy, whereare those scissors?" she asked just loud enough for Sirius to hear.

Without a seconds warning he sprinted out of the room squealing, the two of them doubled over, laughing loudly.

James just grinned, " Are you guys sure? I mean we can wait for you to finish your... er... tasks, or what ever they are."

Mallory waved him off, " No, no, you guys should probably have a few minutes alone anyway, you haven't had much time to yourselves lately, go ahead! We'll be waiting for you when you get back!"

" You're positive, Mal? I mean we really don't have to go." Lily asked, hesitantly.

Mallory put her hands on her hips and gave her an annoyed look, " Will you just go already and quit playing miss-goodie-two-shoes,... get out!"

Lily smirked at her and bowed, " Yes, ma'am. Come on James, let's get out of here before she gives herself a hernia."

James chuckled and took her hand, " Bye guys," with that they apparated to a secluded part of the square where no muggles would be able to spot them.

With a loud "pop!", they appeared in an old run down alleyway next to a trash can that was over flowing with crumpled newspapers and rotting banana peels. A gray cat was perched on a cardboard box with it's back arched and it's ears plastered back, it hissed loudly and darted behind a dumpster.

" What beautiful scenery," Lily mumbled, her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

James let go of her hand and started to walk to the end of the alley, she followed close behind.

" So what's this place called again?" he asked as they stepped onto the side walk.

Lily looked around the square and then pointed at a small diner, it had a red and white awning above the doorway and there was a set of iron tables and chairs on each side.

" Dannie's Delectable Delicacies."

Laughing they started across the square, " Try saying that ten times fast," he mumbled.

Lily smiled and thanked James as he ran up to hold the door open for her and an elderly couple who scooted on through the doorway at a record speed of .7901 mph.

The inside of the cafe was just as quaint as the outside, Lily assumed that the theme colors were red and white considering... what a shocker... everything was red and white. The walls were a deep crimson and the floor was covered in Old English white tiles with small red diamonds in the center of each one. The iron tables were covered with white table cloths and the napkins, which were placed ever-so-neatly next to each plate, were, once again, red.

Looking around for a waitress or waiter, Lily grinned, " This is a cute little restaurant, isn't it?"

James looked around apprehensively and then smiled slightly at her, " Yeah, cute."

She laughed and shook her head. It was somewhat of a girly restaurant and he seemed to have noticed that.

All of the sudden a tall blonde man popped up in front of them, smiling broadly, in that waiter-like way. Since he had appeared there so suddenly the two of them nearly had heart attacks.

" Hello! Welcome to Dannie's Delectable Delicacies! My name is Brad, and I will be your waiter today! Would you like a seat in non-smoking or smoking?" Brad asked excitedly.

Lily had never seen someone so enthusiastic about their job before and after a long list of reasons why he was so... happy-go-lucky, she picked that he had to have sniffed something.

She nodded while smiling in a half-scared way, " Um, non-smoking will be fine, thanks."

Brad beamed again, " Alrighty then! Off we go, just follow me!"

James looked at Lily and raised a brow while they struggled to keep up with their bubbly waiter.

After dogging through the mess of tables and booths, he set down their two menus on a table for two in the back corner of the room, it was mostly empty back there, and Lily was thankful for that. Brad's giddy-ness had given her a headache, seriously, what the _hell_ was wrong with this guy!

As they sat down Brad started up again, " So, what can I get you two to drink tonight! And we do serve martinis, vodka, whiskey -"

" Water will be fine," James interrupted, he figured that if he didn't stop him from continuing right then he would keep going for hours.

The waiter stopped talking abruptly and nodded, " Okay, well, I guess water it is then. Would you like lemon slices, lime, maybe even so-"

James put up his hand, " Please, no! Just. Water. Thank you." he said on the verge of strangling him.

Looking at him oddly Brad shrugged, " If you're sure, we do have tea. Are you sure y-"

Grabbing the edge of the table and smiling up angrily at him James snarled, " I am absolutely _positive_ we only want water. Thank you for your _courtesy_, but water is what I ordered, and _that_ is what I want."

Lily bit her lip and struggled to restrain from laughing, it was hard though because James was sitting there with his teeth clenched and both hands made into fists, while Brad was standing there completely oblivious to his aggravation.

Shrugging, Brad smiled and scribbled down some words onto a green notepad before shoving them in his pocket and promising he would be back as soon as humanly possible.

As soon as he was out of sight Lily started to laugh hysterically.

James pointed in the direction of their nut case of a waiter, and widened his eyes, " _That _is not funny, that is the perfect example of why we should not take drugs."

She bit her lip again and tried to stop, but she couldn't, she just burst out laughing again.

He tried to be serious, but the way Lily was laughing was making him want to laugh. James hadn't seen her laugh like that for three days, and up until that point he hadn't realized how much he missed it. And within a few seconds he had joined her and was chuckling along with him.

" Wow," Lily started, wiping the corner of her eye with her finger. " I haven't seen something so entertaining since... well since that one time when I went to the beach with Mallory and she got a crab stuck on her nose."

James sighed and recovered from his laughing fit, " I wish I would've had the chance of seeing that."

Smiling, she nodded, " Yeah, that was pretty good. But this ... Brad bloke... oh he's so much funnier."

" I just want to know why he's so excessively happy." James mumbled, rolling his eyes and looking around for him.

Lily sighed, " Speak of the devil."

" Great." James groaned, only making Lily laugh more.

This was going to be one long dinner.

**A/N: Okay, I have a few things I need to say. First off, I know that many of you may be wondering why I only gave certain people middle names in the trial section of the chapter, and that would be because I either didn't know their real middle name or couldn't find their real middle name. **

**Second of all, I did plan on this being much longer, but I figured some of you may be wanting to figure out what happens at the trial. The next chapter should be longer, and better written, this one was kind of dull.**

**And last, I want to thank everyone who has ever reviewed for this story, with good or bad responses. I owe it all to you people, without your input I would be getting no where. Thank you very much for your comments, and all I can ask of you now is to continue reviewing so go ahead...**

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**The one and only...**

**Lissa **


	20. Secrets

**A/N: Hi everyone thanks for reviewing!**

**Disclaimers Note:**** Alright guys, another ten chapters are up! Yes I've finally reached the big two zero, haha, but seriously, here is your warning:****Anything that you may recognize out of the Harry Potter series does not belong to me. No matter how much I wish it did, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling. The only things that belong to me out of this story are the plot line, some of my made up characters, some spell names... etc. Alright on with the story.**

**Chapter 20**

**Secrets**

Lily and James arrived back at the mansion a few hours later after going to a muggle movie and taking a walk through a nearby park. The couple found Mallory and Sirius sitting in the middle of the main sitting room, which was off the foyer, playing wizards chess. Apparently they had kicked Remus and Amanda out, and they now had the board, and it looked like they had been sitting there for quite a long time.

Several empty bottles of butter beer, crumpled napkins and two large plates covered in a red marinara sauce, surrounded the floor around them. Lily assumed that they had conjured some sort of pasta for dinner because laying in that red sauce were a few limp noodles and the remnants of some meatballs.

Mallory's long banana-peel colored hair had been pulled back into a messy bun and shockingly... Sirius' hair had been as well. Lily assumed Mallory had forced him to put it up like that because he kept fidgeting and cursing under his breath about 'Women and their damn hair contraptions'.

It was extremely obvious that they were taking the game way too seriously, especially since they hadn't noticed Lily or James standing directly behind them. They had been there for at least five minutes watching everything.

Shaking her head, but yet smiling, Lily placed her hands on her hips.

" Okay, you are not telling me, that during the entire three and a half hours that we were gone you two sat here and played wizards chess." Lily scolded, in a maternal voice.

James snickered quietly at the guilty looks on their faces.

Mallory turned around abruptly and smiled, " Heh, when did you two get back?"

" About five minutes ago," James said, smirking, " We've been standing, right here, behind you, all that time."

Sirius and Mallory looked down at the floor.

" Yep, so tell me, have you been playing this game all that time?" Lily asked, knowing the answer.

Mallory shook her head and bit her lip, " Um, no. No, I got up to use the bathroom... twice!"

Sirius nodded in defense, " And I had to conjure dinner."

" Which took a total, of what? Six and a half seconds?" Lily asked sarcastically.

James ran a hand through his hair. " So out of the three hours you sat here playing this game, you got up for a total of what... five.. ten minutes?"

Shaking his head extremely fast Sirius looked at them seriously, " No, no, about fifteen."

James snorted, " That makes such a big difference."

Mallory furrowed her brow and scowled, " What? That's a whole five minutes difference!"

" Exactly!" Retorted James. But Mallory didn't catch on, Sirius' stupidity must have started to rub off on her.

Lily slapped her forehead and broke out laughing, " Okay, it's official, you two are definitely insane."

Mallory shrugged and grinned hopelessly, she couldn't exactly deny it.

" So, ... are you going to leave, or sit down or something?" Asked Sirius as he fiddled with his pony tail for the millionth time.

James gave him a curious look and shook his head, " Um, I don't know. Why?"

" I... um... Well, I really want to finish this game."

Lily rolled her eyes and took James by the arm, " Yeah, okay, we're leaving. Oh, and Mal," she added turning to face Mallory, " where did Amanda and Remus go?"

She shrugged, " Maybe to one of the balconies, or out in the garden. They left here about an hour ago, said they were going to get something to eat. We haven't seen them since."

" Alright thanks," Lily looked over at Sirius, who was struggling with his hair, and smirked, " Um, having some difficulties, Sirius?"

He growled, " This damn pony tail thing is really annoying me... I don't know why you had to make me put it up like this... it's pointless."

Mallory rolled her eyes and threw one of her broken pieces at him, he squealed and scowled at her, " That could've put my eye out!"

" Whatever, just shut up and move, will you?" Mallory mumbled back.

Lily and James left the room laughing, they closed the door as they went and could still hear Sirius' complaining through the thick wood.

Lily smiled, " Sometimes things never change."

XxxxX

After about ten minutes of searching through the garden, James and Lily found Remus and Amanda flying out on the Quidditch court, they seemed to be playing some sort of mini-game, and apparently, Amanda was winning. This was obvious because of the large smirk on her face and the large scowl on Remus'. Who would've thought that would ever happen?

The two of them landed their brooms, with their faces smudged with dirt and sweat but that didn't seem to bother them one bit. They talked with Lily and James about their 'date' for a few minutes, until Lily decided she was going to go clean up. After all it had been a long day, and some relaxation was needed.

" Alright guys, well I'm going to head up to my room and take a bath. I'll probably stay up there and read or something." Lily said, unlatching her fingers from James'.

Amanda smiled and nodded, " Okay, if you're sure. I mean you're always welcome to try and beat me at a game of Quidditch!"

She laughed, but shook her head, " Nah, I'm too tired right now. And plus, even if I wasn't tired, I probably would lose."

Lily turned towards James and gave him a tight hug, " Thanks for dinner." She then kissed him lightly on the cheek and waved goodbye to her friends as she made her way back to the mansion, leaving James, Remus and Amanda behind.

The three of them immediately started up another mini-game of Quidditch.

XxxxX

After saying goodnight to Mallory and Sirius, who were still playing a very intense game of wizards' chess, she retired to the warm soothing bubbles of her bath tub.

Lily washed her hair at least three times with her new citrus shampoo, and soaked for over an hour until her fingers and toes began to prune. She hopped out and lifted the lid to the towel warmer, smiling, Lily watched as a cloud of steam swirled up to the blue tiled ceiling.

She wrapped the warm, soft towel around her chest and made her way to the mirror, and to her disgust she was met by a very distasteful reflection.

With the stress of the trial, the tragedy of her father's death, and having to take care of her mother, she really had no time to worry about her appearance, and now she was going to pay for it. The black bags around her eyes and her frazzled damp waves, definitely were not in any possible way, attractive.

The amazing thing was that, James, and everyone else seemed not to notice how

drastically her appearance had changed, especially James. He seemed to care for her, perhaps even more than before.

Lily sighed and walked out of the bathroom, pushing those nagging thoughts to the back of her mind, and traveled to her closet to change into a pair of silky pajama bottoms and a white wife beater. There would be many other times when she could worry about her appearance.

Her towel was carelessly tossed into the dirty-clothes bin as she plopped down on her soft bed with a book to read.

Lily read until her eyes couldn't stay open any longer. She fell asleep with the book on her chest and her head turned to the right.

XxxxX

About three hours later, around 9 o'clock James started up the steps to check up on Lily. Mallory and Sirius had finally retired from their game of wizards chess and everyone had then gathered in the main sitting room off of the foyer. They were all having a friendly conversation when the Ball had been brought up, and instantly Lily came to mind. Since she had been up there so long James decided to check on her and make sure she'd gotten to sleep.

James sighed and pushed Lily's bedroom door open, all of the lights were on but yet Lily was clearly asleep. He smiled and walked up to her bed, where he carefully sat down.

The bed creaked slightly under his weight and Lily turned in her sleep, knocking the book that she had been reading, onto the floor. James' eyes traveled to the floor and then to the book, he picked it up and turned it over to the cover.

It was a book on dealing with a loss in the family, frowning sadly James placed it carefully back on the nightstand and looked over at her again.

She seemed so peaceful, and somewhat happy. James thought to himself about dinner that night. Lily had actually laughed, it wasn't a fake laugh, and it wasn't forced, it was out of pure happiness. At that time, James couldn't explain to anyone how good it felt to see her smile like that.

James admired her more than ever now because she was holding up so well, dealing with a death is never easy, especially when its someone that close to you. James knew he wouldn't have taken the news as well as she did.

Leaning down he pressed his lips on her forehead gently, he didn't want to wake her. Then he pulled out his wand and conjured a blanket for her, after tucking it tightly around her and turning off the lights he left her room.

When James exited her room he found Remus, Sirius, Mallory and Amanda all standing next to the door, looking at him expectantly.

He smirked, " She's asleep."

Remus smiled and then looked around at everyone seriously, " Good, now let's get started."

XxxxX

The next morning, very early, around six o'clock, Lily woke feeling very refreshed, she threw her legs over the side of the bed, closed her eyes, and stretched. When she opened her eyes again she shrieked, there was a huge red phoenix sitting on her nightstand looking straight at her.

" Merlin, Fawkes, you just about scared me out of my skin." Lily said as she reached over to stroke the bird.

Looking at him more closely, she noticed that there was a small aged piece of parchment rolled up tightly attached to his left leg.

She gasped and grabbed at the parchment, " The funeral."

Unrolling it quickly, Lily began to read the letter to herself.

_**Miss Evans,**_

_**I apologize sincerely if I have interrupted your plans but I needed to inform you of the plans for your father's funeral. I have scheduled it to be held at five o'clock in the evening at your church, I believe it's called The Church of God. If you would like to move the ceremony time or location please let me know before tomorrow. I also need to know what type of casket you would prefer him to have. You will be able to contact me at the school until six o'clock this evening, I will be leaving for a meeting at that time. If you decided to owl back please use Fawkes, I have also enclosed extra parchment for your convenience. Thank your for your time.**_

_**Professor Dumbledore**_

She let out a relieved sigh and smiled faintly, it was nice to know that her father would be having a beautiful funeral. Without giving herself the chance to tear up again, Lily gave Fawkes a block of sugar from a little dish on her desk, he sucked on it eagerly and cooed at her once he had swallowed it.

Lily wrote back the details to Dumbledore, imagining all the while who would show up and what the ceremony would be like. She sent Fawkes off quickly and headed to her closet to slip into a pair of comfy shorts and a halter. After dressing and brushing out all the knots from her long auburn hair she headed down to the kitchen. Since it was still very early she didn't think anyone would be up, so she made her way downstairs very quietly.

But to her surprise she heard the muffled voices off all five of her friends, Lily stopped dead in her tracks.

_Why would they be up at six o'clock in the morning? At the same time? Together? Whispering about... wait, did I just hear my name?_

Lily let go of the guardrail on the stairs and took off her sandals, holding them in one hand she tip-toed over to the entrance of the kitchen and listened in on their conversation.

" Guys we really need to watch what we say about her," Lily heard Mallory say quietly.

" Yeah, you know, she's not stupid. She's going to figure it out sooner or later." Amanda said.

When Lily heard James' voice enter the conversation she was floored, why would her boyfriend talk about her behind her back?

" She won't find out. We can't let her, you know she will get upset. Now are we going to finish up here or are we just going to wait for her to bust us?"

_Bust us? What's that supposed to mean?_ Lily wondered, furrowing her brow. She was just about to turn around and head back up to her room when Remus started up.

" You know guys, I'm really getting tired of these secret meetings, I've been waking up at four o'clock in the morning now for what... three weeks? This is starting to get on my nerves."

Lily's mouth just about dropped to the floor at that, _Three weeks?_ _ My, "best" friends have been gathering together, behind my back to talk about me for three weeks now! What is going on!_

" Yeah, James. Why four? Why can't we have more 'meetings' after she goes to bed like last night?" Amanda asked, sounding highly aggravated.

" Because, I don't like going in there and checking up on her! She's going to figure it out! Do you want that?" James asked viciously, which took Lily off guard, she'd never heard him use that tone... not since her first year. Were things going back to old times?

Sirius sighed, " Whatever man, I'm sick of this though, I'm going to be so glad when its all over."

Lily heard James growl, " Well, I'm sick of all the complaints, imagine how hard it is for me! Now let's get back to bed before we wake her up, and remember..." James continued but got interrupted by Mallory.

" Act normal, we know already, after three weeks you get good at lying."

As they started to get up from their seats, Lily flew up the steps with tears in her eyes. What was going on? Why were they plotting things behind her back? _What _were they plotting? She didn't even know if James really wanted to be her boyfriend anymore, the only thing she did know, was that she wasn't going to let them find out she knew. But she was going to give them all hell for lying to her for the past three weeks.

**A/N: Hmm, weird huh? Well I hope you liked it! Please review, and sorry about the shortness.**


	21. A Funeral

**Chapter 21**

**A Funeral**

Lily closed her bedroom door behind her quickly just before her friends could be heard scooting past. She pressed her ear up against the wood and tried to listen, but her heart was beating so loudly in her ears it made it extremely difficult to hear what was going on.

" Hey, James, I thought I heard a door shut, you don't think she's awake do you?" She heard Sirius whisper.

" Yeah so did I, maybe you should check on her." Mallory added, sounding slightly nervous.

She could hear James sigh, " Fine, but I'm sure it's nothing though, it was probably one of the house elves doing a bit of dusting!"

Lily looked around her room franticly, all the lights were on and her pajamas were sitting out in the middle of the room, there was no way she could turn out the lights, get dressed in her pajamas and pretend as if she were asleep before he came in.

Thinking fast she grabbed the book she had been reading the night before and plopped down on her bed, opening it up to a random page, she began to act as if she were reading.

Just then her door creaked open and James popped his head in, Lily took a deep breath and turned to look at him with the most innocent expression she could muster.

" Um, Hello."

" Hey there, you're up early aren't you? Can I come in?" James asked grinning at her.

She nodded, but secretly wanted to chuck her book at him, look at him! He was lying straight to her face, with no guilt! Again! How could he possibly do this? James was her boyfriend, and having that title means you cannot lie to your girlfriend, hence Lily!

" Sure,"

He plopped down on the edge of her bed and looked around, " How long have you been up?"

Lily let the book rest on her lap, remaining open, " Not long, why the sudden interest?"

He shrugged, " Just wondered... are you enjoying the book?" James asked smiling oddly at her.

She nodded and couldn't help but wonder why he was looking at her that way.

" Oh yeah, it's real great!"

" You're not having any trouble reading it?" He asked scratching his chin.

Lily laughed nervously and shook her head, " Um, no. Why would I?"

" No reason," James then reached over, took the book from her lap and flipped it over, " I just didn't know you could read upside down."

Lily blushed heavily, in the rush of getting herself situated she must have picked the book up upside down.

" It's a secret talent of mine." She said coolly, smirking at him.

He nodded, " Really? That's fascinating."

" I know, isn't it?"

James smirked, " Who taught you?"

Lily sighed he really was beginning to get on her nerves, " You know what? I really don't remember, it's just been so long."

" Oh, Okay,well since we're both up do you want to go down and have some breakfast?" he asked smiling at her.

Lily nodded half heartedly and looked down sadly, why was he acting so sincere when she knew he was up to no good? He acted as if nothing had happened, she could clearly see he was good at lying and that definitely was not a good thing. Lily couldn't help but wonder if there was anything else he was hiding from her.

She raised her head and looked into his eyes one more time, searching for some sign that he was lying but there was nothing.

" Why not?" She responded, putting on a happy face.

_Two can play at this game._ She thought angrily.

He stood up and held his hand out for her to take, she hesitated but took it into her own, making sure to grip onto it extra hard. Lily laughed inwardly when she saw a wince cross his face.

XxxxX

Lily sat on one of the stools at the bar and watched as James fixed breakfast with his wand. He had asked her if she wanted to help, and normally she would have immediately answered yes, like some trained dog, but not this time. Lily had just smiled sweetly at him and shook her head, explaining that she was still traumatized from the last time she tried to make breakfast.

James had his back to her at this point and it was a good thing too, because if he would have seen the look she was giving him he would have known instantly that she was angry with him. Lily was tapping her nails impatiently on the marble bar top with one hand while she propped up her head with the other. She did this purposely because it was one of James' biggest pet peeves.

With wand in hand James spun on the spot and gave Lily a slightly aggravated look. He walked up to the bar and leaned down so that he was at her eye level.

Her angry emerald eyes flashed as his calm chocolate ones connected with hers," Okay, enough, what's up with you today? You seemed anxious when I checked up on you, then you held my hand so tight that you cut the circulation off to my arm and now you're sighing and tapping your fingers like you're annoyed with me. You haven't acted like this since..." he paused for a second then continued, " since our third year. What's wrong?" James asked with a genuine concerned expression.

Lily sighed and shrugged, _" You, you're my problem. If you wouldn't have snuck behind my back like the bloody two faced twat that you are, then I wouldn't be in this mood. If I knew why everyone was plotting things involving me but yet making sure I don't find out about them then I would be happy as a bloody baboon in a jungle full of bananas!" _she thought to herself, wondering what would happen if she said that out loud, but of course she wouldn't, no she was going to let it cook up inside her for about three months and then burst like a mad woman. Yes, that's precisely what would happen.

Instead she acted innocent again, just as he was, she was spinning herself such a web of lies that she was sure she would end up caught up in her own trap soon enough, but then again that's exactly what all of her, so called 'friends', had been doing for three weeks now.

" I don't know, I guess it's just the stress of the funeral. It is in two days you know."

A look of relief briefly crossed his face but it was soon replaced with a frown.

" Well, good, ... kind of. I mean, I thought you were angry with me or something. I'm sorry you have so much stress on you though." He took her soft hand into his own and and kissed her knuckles gently, " Don't worry so much, everything will turn out alright."

She winced at the touch of his lips on her skin, it was like some kind of sick punishment she enjoyed it so much, but at the same time wanted to smack him across the face for doing it.

Pulling her hand away awkwardly, she smiled, " Don't worry about me... Oh, and, James, I believe that flapjack has just caught fire."

For a few seconds he seemed confused but as soon as he realized what she had just said he cursed under his breath and produced a jet of water from his wand, putting out this flaming flapjack immediately. He laughed quietly and placed the pitiful thing on a plate, setting it in front of Lily.

" My cooking skills are lovely, now aren't they?" he asked, smirking at her.

Lily couldn't help but laugh, eventhough she was angry with him. " Quite lovely." she hopped down from the stool and rounded the bar, " Alright, step aside Greenhorn, let me show you how its done."

Knowing that she would never get to eat if she didn't take it into her own hands she made breakfast quickly and skillfully, much better than the last attempt. Three and a half minutes later Lily and James were sitting at the table munching on their golden brown flapjacks.

" Mmm, they're delicious Lils." he complimented as he licked a bit of syrup from his bottom lip.

" Thanks."

Lily watched as he devoured them eagerly, it was almost animal-like. She scrunched her nose in disgust and stood up with her plate.

" Well, I'm finished. I think I'm going to go for a walk." She said, placing the dish in the sink.

James looked up from his plate in surprise, " Oh, well, do you want me to come with you?"

Lily shook her head and mentally growled, "_ No, just stay the hell away from me._" she thought.

" No, go ahead and finish up. I just need a minute to think."

As Lily walked past him she felt a strong hand grip her wrist, making her stop on the spot. James pulled her down to his level and kissed her lightly on the lips. She pulled away almost immediately, making James frown in confusion.

He let go of her wrist and stood up, cupping her face with his hands, " What's the matter Lily? I know you aren't telling me the full truth, I can tell when I look into your eyes, which has been a challenge since you seem not to want to look at me."

James struggled to get her to look into his eyes, but she refused. Lily just shook her head grabbed his hands with her own, pulling them away from her face.

" James, I can't do this right now. And I can't explain to you why, so just don't ask me. Just go. Leave me alone."

Lily then left him standing there, completely lost and hurt, but she didn't care. Or at least that's what she wanted to believe, that she didn't mind she was hurting him. But deep down, she just wanted everything to go back to normal.

XxxxX

Two days later Mallory, Amanda, and Lily were all standing in Lily's room as they got ready to head off to the funeral. They hadn't said much to each other because Lily seemed edgy,they didn't think much of it though, after all, it was her father's funeral day. You couldn't expect her to be happy.

Lily straightened out her black satin dress, that reached about five inches below the knee, as Mallory pinned her hair up into a bun.

Mallory swallowed, " Lily are you alright? You've been awful quiet this afternoon."

Lily cringed, she knew this was coming. No she wasn't alright! No one had said anything to her about what they had been talking about, she was still completely oblivious and they were all acting normal!

" Yeah, just dandy. It's my father's funeral day, you can't expect me to be jumping for joy!" she snapped, walking into the bathroom just as Mallory stuck the last pin into place.

A word wasn't said between the girls after that, they all went downstairs and apparated to the alley closest to the church. When they arrived they all hurried down the side walk to the ceremony, never uttering a word to one another.

Sirius, Remus, and James had agreed to meet them there, James had told Lily he needed to do a few things before he left and had made sure he knew the address. Assuming it had something to do with the secret, she, for a fleeting second, almost gave him a false address. But for some reason she couldn't do it, Lily blamed it on his "_Damn hypnotizing eyes_". Plus he was just too adorable, all dressed up in his sleek muggle tux with his hair combed back neatly, it was so cute that he went to so much trouble for her father's funeral, that she almost had forgotten about the whole 'secret behind her back' thing.

XxxxX

Lily had mentally promised herself that she would not cry before she saw her father in the casket, but she knew the moment she had set foot on the concrete sidewalk outside of the church her family had regularly attended on so many occasions, that she was about to break that promise.

A huge lump formed in her throat and her heart seemed to enlarge, horrible thoughts began to flood through her mind, sad memories clouded her vision and before she knew it tears had began to brim her eyes and not even one foot had been set into the church.

Looking away, she forced herself to calm down, and she did considerably when a strong, but yet soft, hand slipped into her own and squeezed her hand reassuringly. She knew it was James, but she didn't have the heart to take her hand back.

"_Why is it so hard for me to stay angry with him?"_ she wondered silently.

When she looked up again there was everyone, Remus, Amanda, Sirius, Mallory, and James of course, all surrounding her with comforting smiles. They didn't need to say a word, at that moment she knew, for some odd reason, that whatever it was that they were plotting, had to be something good. It just had to be. There was no way they could look at her like that, and act so sincere without everything being okay in the end.

Amanda took her hand and squeezed it, she smiled and nodded towards the church, " Come on, you'll feel much better after you go. Don't worry, everything will be okay, we're all here for you."

Lily nodded as her heart panged at those last five words, " We're all here for you".

She found herself moving into the church but it didn't feel like she was walking, she didn't feel anything but sadness, it was like she was a deflated balloon.

The first thing she saw when she stepped foot into the building was a long isle way and at the end of it was a black polished casket, half open, the lining was midnight blue, her father's favorite color. White and yellow roses surrounded it, they were everywhere, at the end of the pews, in vases next to the doors, and there was a single white rose sitting on the closed half part of the casket, tied around it was a red satin ribbon.

No one was talking, not even a single whisper could be heard. She looked around, on the right side of the room were her muggle friends and family, and on the left side were many people from Hogwarts, including Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. All of the people from Hogwarts were dressed in muggle clothing, although all of it was extremely out of style and very vibrant. That was besides the point though, they had came to the ceremony and that was all that mattered to her.

Lily walked down the isle, fingers still tightly intertwined with James', with tears brimming her eyes as her mother came into view. She was in the first row of seats with her head in her hands, her sister was sitting next to her and unsurprisingly, she seemed completely calm.

Lily let go of James' hand in a heart beat and walked up to sit with her mother. Rose looked up and sighed.

" Oh, Lily, I'm so glad that you're here." She wrapped her shaky arms around her daughter and whimpered, " I don't think I can handle this."

Patting her on the back Lily shook her head, " You'll be fine..." Her voice cracked but she continued, " he's... in a better place now... no ...no more pain... or s-suffering..." By this time tears were flowing down her face steadily and her voice had risen a few octaves.

Rose let go of Lily and took her hand, she looked her straight in her eyes, " I want you to be careful, you and your sister are all I have now," A tear rolled down her mother's face, " I can't handle losing either of you. You just be careful at that school of yours."

Lily squeezed her hand reassuringly and looked back towards where her friends were sitting, the pew behind her.

" Don't worry about me, Mum, I have plenty of people to watch over me." she said half to make her mother feel better and half to make her feel better.

Rose smiled sadly and nodded, she was just about to say something, but was interrupted by the Pastor clearing his throat. The ceremony was starting.

XxxxX

Two hours and just about fifty million shed tears later, Lily stood alone next to her father's new grave. A crisp summer breeze swept through the grave yard, rustling around dried flowers, carelessly abandoned next to the many gray stones marked with loving words from each of the deceased's loved ones.

She knelt down and placed a bundle of fresh wild flowers on his grave.

" I'm so sorry Daddy..." Lily whispered, gently running her hand across the grave stone, " If I weren't a witch... none of this would have happened... I want you to know that I will get back at Voldemort if it's the l-l-last thing I do."

Lily sniffled loudly and wiped a fallen tear away, she stood slowly, " I love you Daddy, I'm so sorry..."

Just before turning around she read his grave stone to herself once more, " Here Lies , Richard Cain Evans, Beloved Husband and Caring Father of Two."

" _Beloved doesn't even begin to describe the feelings Mum and I have for you."_ She thought to herself sadly.

Lily felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to find James standing there, behind her with his deep chocolate eyes sending her waves of sympathy.

" Come on, Love, why don't we head out for a bite to eat, It's nearly dinner time."

She tucked a fallen curl behind her ear and nodded, Lily didn't have enough strength to turn him down, she had to get her mind off of all this anyway.

James smiled slightly and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, " Your Mum left a few minutes ago with your sister, she said to tell you she loved you and to write her as soon as you can."

Nodding again she leaned into his shoulder helplessly, how was it possible for him to make her so angry one minute and feel so comforted and safe the next?

" Where did everyone else go?" she asked quietly as they came out of the grave yard and the church began to come back into view.

James shifted nervously for a moment and then cleared his throat, " Oh, they had to go back to the Mansion to get a few things done."

" A few things done? Like what?" Lily asked curiously.

He shrugged, " Why don't we just get something to eat? Here, this looks like a good spot to apparate, doesn't it?"

" No, James, I know you know what's going on, now tell me." she said forcefully, making him look into her eyes.

James rolled his eyes and sighed, " I have no idea what you're talking about, now can we just go? I would like to get you out of this environment and into a more relaxing area. You've had a horrible day, I think a quiet dinner, just you and me, will make you feel much better."

" Okay, but I know you're hiding something."

He kissed her forehead, " Can we eat?"

" Yes, yes, Merlin, you're starting to sound like Sirius!"

James laughed, " And you're starting to sound more like yourself."

She elbowed him in the side and scoffed at his puppy dog eyes, " Are you going to apparate or what? And where are we going?"

James smirked, " That, my love you will see soon enough."

Eying him suspiciously again she took his hand warily, " Where are you taking me?"

" Oh, be quiet already, its a surprise!"

**A/N: Okay I've FINALLY updated. Sorry this chapter totally sucked, but the next one is going to be a LOT better, Lily will find out what the secret is and why they've had to keep it from her. So, why don't you all try to guess what's going to happen! The more reviews I get the faster I'll update!**


	22. Secret No More

**Chapter 22**

**Secret-No-More**

James took Lily by the hand and they apparated away together. When Lily opened her eyes again she screamed in surprise and grabbed James by the waist.

They were standing in front of the Eiffel Tower! Lily looked over at James and gasped. It was absolutely beautiful all lit up, behind it fell a eye-catching curtain of red and orange, the sun was just beginning to set, but why were they here? This surely wasn't James' intentional destination... was it?

" What are we doing here? We're in France! Paris, France! We're in PARIS!"

James laughed, " Yes, I believe you're correct! We are, in fact standing, right now, in front of the Eiffel Tower, which is indeed in Paris, France."

" Well, why? I mean did you apparate to the wrong place?" She looked around nervously, " Are we allowed to be this close to it without having a pass or something?"

Laughing again, he took her hand and led her closer to the tower.

" Oh... Oh, Merlin, James, no, this couldn't be... this isn't where you meant to take us ... James? James? Is this where you meant to apparate to?"

He nodded and smirked at her as they approached a guard dressed in red and black, he stepped in front of them and nodded at James as he opened the elevator door by pressing a yellow button.

Lily looked up and smiled in awe, it was huge, absolutely huge! She had always wanted to come to Paris, her family never had enough money to travel though.

Clearing his throat, James pulled her forward into the elevator which smelled strongly of roses, " Come on, don't want to be late now!"

" What, oh, alright," she said in response as she reluctantly stepped into the elevator.

" So, why are we here James?"

He smiled and pulled her close to him, " You'll see, just be patient!"

As an after thought she added, " Late for what exactly?

" Patience Lily! Geesh!"

Lily eyed him curiously but nevertheless smiled and enjoyed the free ride up. When the shiny polished doors opened, she was floored once more. She was looking at one of the most beautiful restaurants she'd ever seen, James took her by the arm and led her out of the elevator.

" Come on Lily, let's go," he urged her, but she was just so shocked, it was all so beautiful! It was as if her legs had been stuck in two large buckets of cement, she couldn't move.

The walls and ceiling were painted black, everything was perfectly clean and soft music was playing in the background. Tables were set up everywhere, all of them circular and covered in white table cloths with at least one vase full of beautiful red roses sitting in the middle. The carpet was a dark gray color mixed with spots of black.

All of the sudden, out of the blue, Sirius, Remus, Mallory and Amanda all appeared from behind a door, in front of them dressed in white aprons and chef hats. She couldn't help but snicker, they looked like morons.

Remus stepped up and bowed deeply, smiling broadly, " Welcome to _Le Jules Verne_, we have been expecting you."

Lily looked at him blankly and then looked up at James, " What's going on?"

James smiled, " We are here to eat dinner,"

She furrowed her brow, " But... why is ... why are all of... why are they dressed in aprons! I don't think you understood my question, _What the bloody hell is going on_?"

" They are our waiters and waitresses for the night, Lily!" he said laughing as if it was completely obvious.

Remus cleared his throat and bowed again, " Excuse me, but shall I seat you now?" he asked.

Lily looked at him oddly and then back at James who nodded and began to follow Remus.

" Come along now," Remus said looking back at Lily, who was lagging behind.

She snapped out of her daze and ran up with James, taking his hand.

" When did they start working here? I still don't get it." She asked in a hurry, getting aggravated.

James chuckled, " Merlin, so many questions." he said smiling.

Remus smiled, and motioned to a table for two next to a window, he pulled out her chair and waited for her to take her seat. When he did he bowed again, winked at Lily, and walked off.

James had seated himself across from her, and he was twiddling his thumbs calmly while looking out the window at the beautiful view.

All of the sudden Mallory popped up out of no where again, " _Bonjour_! And once again welcome to, _Le Jules Verne_! Here are your menus," She said as whipped two brown-ish colored booklets out and set them in front of of them, as she did this Amanda walked up with a tray, on it she was skillfully balancing two tall glasses full of water. Behind her stood Sirius, who looked somewhat put out, he walked up to them and placed an elegant red napkin on each of their laps.

Lily couldn't help but over hear him mumbling, " Why do _I _get to give them the napkins... no... I can't serve the food... or give the menus! _I_ get the bloody napkins!"

" I and my two assistants," Mallory said, motioning to Amanda, who was placing the glasses in front of them, and Sirius, who was frowning angrily, " Will be serving you for tonight! Can I get you anything to drink, besides the complimentary water?"

James nodded, " Yes, how about some red wine, for both of us?" he asked looking in Lily's direction.

But she wasn't paying a bit of attention to what he was saying, she couldn't believe all of her friends were serving her. And why on Earth was the whole restaurant empty except for them? What was going on? Suddenly it all clicked.

She looked at James, mouth open and whispered, " Did you rent this whole thing out for us?"

He smiled and nodded.

" Have you all been planning this for the past three weeks?"

James nodded again, and looked at her curiously.

All of the sudden she started to cry, she got up from her seat and threw her arms around him. She had known all along that they had to have been plotting something good! ... well... maybe not _all_ along.

James pulled away from her and kissed her lightly on the lips, " How long have you known?"

She growled, " Long enough to drive me crazy! I can't believe you guys!" She smacked him playfully on the arm and then hugged all of her friends who smiled and laughed. " Ah! I'm going to kill all of you! I thought for sure you guys were plotting something bad, and," she turned to James, " I thought you were going to break up with me!"

He threw his head back and laughed as he stood and picked her up twirling her in the air, " No, no, no, I would never do that!" he set her down and looked at her more seriously, " I love you Lily. And I have no intentions of breaking up with you." He took her right hand and twisted the promise ring on her fourth finger, " Don't you remember me telling you that already?"

She nodded and hugged him tightly, " Several times... I should never have doubted you. I'm so sorry."

He merely shrugged, and smirked, " Well, I suppose I led you on a little."

Lily frowned at him, " Um, a little?"

" Maybe a lot..." he shifted around nervously, but laughed nevertheless.

Mallory cleared her throat from behind them and sighed, " Okay, Okay, enough of this waitress crap, will you two just sit down and tell me what the hell you want to eat, I'm starting to get antsy over here!"

Lily turned around and laughed, " It's great to have you back,"

She rolled her eyes and motioned to Lily's seat, " Yeah, yeah, yeah, I missed you too... now let's cut to the chase. Just shut up, sit down, and order will you? I don't fancy standing here in a white apron and a bloody chef hat okay!"

Lily obeyed, but not before giving her a tight hug and whispering thanks in her ear.

James took charge once again and told Mallory they would have the Lobster Thermidor for their main course and a baked Alaska for desert. After everyone had left them alone, conversation started up again.

" So... what is all this for anyway? I mean there has to be a reason for you going to all this trouble, you don't just wake up and decide you're going to reserve a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower for your girlfriend every day now do you?"

" You honestly don't know why I did all of this?" he asked waving his arms in the air.

She shook her head, " Um, no. Not a clue."

James laughed and took her hand, " Happy Birthday, Lily."

Realization flooded over her face, " Oh. I guess I forgot."

He shrugged, " Not a big deal I suppose, you had a lot on your mind."

Letting go of her hand he reached into the pocket inside of his jacket and pulled out a deep blue velvet pouch, he opened it and retrieved a square box from inside of it.

" Here's part two of your present." he said smiling at her and making her feel like Jello all over again.

She looked up at him and shook her head, " Oh no, James, there's no way I'm going to accept whatever this is. This," Lily said motioning around her, " must have cost a fortune!"

" Did this make you happy?" he asked, raising a brow.

" Of course it did! Merlin, James, you took me to the Eiffel Tower for dinner! Of course it made me happy!"

James shrugged and smiled, " Then it was all worth it. Now open it!"

She grinned and rolled her eyes, " Alright, alright. I don't know how I'm ever going to repay you for all of this."

She opened the box and looked up at him teary-eyed, there sitting lightly on the silk lining of the box was a picture framed in gold and diamonds. It was a picture of her sitting on her father's lap around the age of eight. It was charmed so that she and her father would smile at each other, he would pinch her nose, and then Lily would laugh.

Swallowing back a lump in her throat and blinking back a tear she glanced up at him, " Where did you get this?" she said shakily

" Your mother gave me the picture. I got the frame in Hogsmeade late at night a few weeks ago while you were sleeping. I hope you like it." James said, reaching across the table and taking her hand in his own again.

" Believe me James, I like it. I love it... I love you. Thank you so much." she closed the box and held it close to her heart, " That picture means a lot to me. I thought I had lost it, but I suppose Mum had it all along."

James looked at her curiously, as if asking what she meant and she continued to explain.

" This picture was taken on my eighth birthday right after my father had returned from a two-month long business trip. I never let it out of my sight, it was always with me no matter where I went, but when I boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time and I checked my pocket for the picture, it was gone. Ever since then I thought I had lost it." she smiled faintly, " Thank you, James, thank you so much."

He grinned and kissed her hand, " Anything for you, Love, I'm happy that I chose the gift so well."

" Honestly, I don't think you could've picked a better gift."

" Excuse me lovers," a voice said from behind Lily, " but I just don't have any clue what to do with this left over birthday cake."

She smiled and turned to see Sirius and Remus holding up a tray which held a beautiful two layer cake iced with light pink icing, on the top of it the words, " Happy Birthday Lily!" were wrote in all capitals in white icing.

" It looks delicious!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Sirius licked his lips, " I know! I can hardly wait!"

Lily laughed and shook her head, " Only from you, Sirius, only from you..."

James waved his wand and seventeen candles dispersed themselves evenly across the cake, lighting themselves as well. The lights in the restaurant dimmed on pique and everyone started singing the traditional Happy Birthday song as Sirius and Remus maneuvered the cake so that it was directly in front of Lily.

She was beaming, this was definitely the best birthday she'd ever had, eventhough only moments ago she had been mourning over her father's tragic death. She made her wish and blew out all of the candles happily and the room burst into applause.

The six of them spent the rest of the evening together, after they'd finished eating they danced their hearts out and at 2 am they all staggered into the mansion completely exhausted and maybe just a little tipsy, but it was worth it.

**A/N: So things are starting to return to normal. Lemme know what you think about this chapter. Once again, the more reviews I get, the faster I'll update! Sorry about the shortness, but I figured you all wanted to know what would happen asap.**

**Thanks.**

**Lis**


	23. Letters From Hogwarts

**A/N: Wow, I got eight reviews, good job guys! Now in this chapter, you all may get a little confused, because I'm going to skip about four or five weeks so that its around mid August. But don't fret! My madness always has a good reason behind it! **

**I'm sorry it's taken me sooo long to update, I've been having a lot of ... difficulties with my romance life, my family, school and my friends at times. **

**Oh and let's just pretend that they had the notebook back then, okay? Have fun reading! And make sure to review!**

**Chapter 23**

**Letters From Hogwarts**

After Lily's elaborate and thoughtful birthday celebration everything seemed to fall back into place. Mallory still picked on Sirius, and Sirius still ran around screaming like a four year old little girl. Amanda and Remus were as reasonable, intelligent, and kind as ever and as for Lily and James... well, it seemed as if they'd been in love since they had been born. The tension that had been felt floating around in the air after Lily had found out about her surprise party, was gone.

A month had passed since then, and surprisingly no one had gotten sick of each other. They just seemed to grow, if possible, closer to one another each and every day. Mallory, Amanda and Lily, spent every Friday night together, without the guys, normally they went out to dinner and maybe shopped for a few hours. Tonight, they were planning on just having a little slumber party in Lily's room.

XxxxX

It was about three o'clock and the girls had gathered on the balcony outside of Mallory's bedroom, Lily had conjured up three glasses of French vanilla cappuccino and they were all sipping it quietly, while trying to figure out what they were going to do at their slumber party that night.

" Well, I still say we should make a pizza the muggle way," Lily protested sadly, making the famous puppy-dog-face at her friends.

Mallory groaned, " You know none of us can cook."

Amanda took a sip and nodded, " Yeah, remember that time we were making breakfast Lil? Not pretty."

" So! It could be fun! Come on... please? For me?" she asked, smiling at them.

" No," they said in unison.

" Well, we have to learn how to cook sometime! Practice makes perfect you know."

Mallory rolled her eyes, " Oh please,"

She snorted, " Well, fine, what bright ideas do you have? Huh?" there was a pause, " thought so, nothing! Why can't we make a pizza?!"

Amanda sighed and frowned, " You are being really annoying, Lily,"

" Yeah you sound like Sirius," Mallory added while taking another sip of her cappuccino.

" I wouldn't be talking Mallory, he is your boyfriend after all," she growled.

Mallory just shrugged, " We go together well."

Lily frowned again and took another swig of her cappuccino, " Why don't we camp out? In like a tent!"

If it weren't daylight Lily could've sworn she heard crickets.

Amanda gaped at her, " Are you serious?"

" There are... _things_, living out side Lily!" Mallory said, cringing at the word, "things"

She groaned angrily, " Oh, come on! What are you, a bunch of babies?!"

There was another pause and then they both nodded, " Yes," they said in unison.

" You two are absolutely hopeless."

Amanda smiled, " Don't you love it?"

Lily growled and stood up, " Well, I give up. I'm going to go... do... something. Sitting here is boring me."

Mallory smiled and waved, " 'Kay, see ya later, dearest."

" You're infuriating," she mumbled as she rolled her eyes and walked back into Mallory's room.

She made her way through the mess of dirty clothes and scattered shoes, they had been trying on different outfits to see which ones were worthy of taking back to Hogwarts and which ones would be sent to muggle charity. They decided on keeping fifteen of their twenty outfits.

Lily opened the door and just as she was about to step out into the hall she tripped and fell flat on her face, there was a loud thud and then she moaned, cappuccino was not only all over the floor, but in her hair and down her shirt.

" Bloody Hell, why do _I_ always have to trip?" she asked her self out loud as she punched the hard floor with her hand, only making the situation worse, " Ouch! ... great."

A laugh came from behind her and she sighed, she knew James had been standing there the whole time.

" Why is it, wherever I am you are?" Lily asked as he held out his hand for her to take.

He pulled her up to her feet, " Dunno. I guess it is a bit of a coincidence that I always end up wherever you are, but really, it's not intentional."

" Uh huh, I'm sure."

He pulled out his wand and smiled, " You're a bit of a mess,_ Scourgify_," with that the cappuccino disappeared and she once again looked clean.

Glancing down at the door way she saw the culprit, a red high heeled shoe, she picked it up and chucked it down the hallway, but that did no good, it just landed about ten feet away with a muffled thump.

" So, you seem tense, what's up?" James asked, smirking at her red face.

She frowned, " Nothing, my stupid _friends_ just won't accept any of my ideas."

He looked at her blankly as they started towards the stairs, " Ideas? What ideas?"

" Oh," Lily said laughing, " sorry, um we were brainstorming ideas for what we were going to do tonight."

James continued to look at her blankly.

" You know... we always spend Friday nights together."

He nodded, and she couldn't help but notice he looked a little disappointed, " Oh, okay. So, er, why weren't they accepting your ideas?"

" Because they're dumb asses that don't know what they're talking about."

James still wasn't entirely sure what she was going on about, but he figured he best agree with her and just let her rant for a while because she seemed pretty aggravated.

" I see." he said simply, opening the doorway for her to continue rambling, which is exactly what she did.

All the way downstairs, through the foyer, around the mansion, and into the garden.

" And now I don't have the slightest idea what we're going to do tonight! It's maddening. Absolutely maddening." Lily concluded with a heavy sigh.

She plopped down on the edge of the fountain that was splashing about merrily behind her and looked up at James to see what he was thinking but for once in her life she couldn't read his expression, it was completely blank.

She stood up at his level and took his hand, " So, what's up with you? You look like you just drank a sour butterbeer." smiling she squeezed his hand.

James grinned and slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him, " Nothing, I was just thinking."

" A penny for your thoughts?"

He frowned, " Huh?"

Laughing she shook her head, " Muggle saying... what were you thinking about?"

" It's not important really, I just forgot you three were spending the night together, I was going to take you somewhere, maybe to one of those... th- the-a um... thetear... no th-"

Lily laughed hard and cut him off, " A theater, a movie theater?"

" Yeah, I guess that's what they're called, you mentioned that you used to go to them all the time when you were little, so I thought you might enjoy going to see a .. movie..?"

" Yes, movie," she assured him, " and I would love to, but I promised them I'd spend the evening with them."

He frowned, " I know."

She couldn't help but giggle, he was such a little boy sometimes, " Maybe I could slip out around midnight and we could catch a late show."

He lifted his head and smiled, " You think?"

Lily nodded, " Yes, I think so."

She leaned up and kissed him lightly on his soft cheek, " Well, I'll go talk to Mal, and Mandy about it, I'll catch you around dinner time?" she asked

He grinned but didn't loosen his grip on her, " Alright,"

Lily struggled to untangle herself from him for a few seconds but succeeded after distracting him by saying, " Oh, look, something shiny!", just as expected he let go, " Oooh, where?"

She giggled and ran towards the mansion, leaving him in the dust, just as she opened the door she heard him growl, " Hey, not fair, Lily!" she giggled again and closed the door behind her, apparating back up to Mallory's room. It was nice to be able to finally use magic outside of Hogwarts. Amanda was also enjoying the new freedom of being of age, her birthday had been a few weeks ago. Unlike Lily's extreme celebration, Mandy's had been small and simple, the way she had requested it.

Lily didn't bother knocking she just walked in, the two of them were sitting on her bed, Mandy was painting Mallory's toes bright pink.

" Hey, Lils, we found this nail polish stuff in your room and decided to... borrow... it." Amanda said laughing, " Mal, here, doesn't exactly like the color too much."

Lily laughed as she noted the disgusted look on Mallory's face, she'd never seen her look so frustrated.

Amanda laughed again, " I charmed her so that she can't move."

" She's going to kill you," Lily said, laughing hard at how Mallory's eyes were darting from her toes, to the nail polish, to Amanda.

She shrugged, " Oh well, I have a wand now don't I?"

" True," Lily eyed Mallory and then scrunched her nose, " but I don't know if a wand will do you any good, she might just beat the snot out of you."

Mandy frowned and looked at her charmed friend silently then back up at Lily, " Nah. I'm too lovable," She smiled deviously at Mallory, playfully patting her on the cheek, " aren't I?"

Lily smirked and plopped down on the bed next to Amanda, she laid on her stomach with her feet in the air behind her, her arms held her head up as she watched Amanda paint her friend's toenails.

" So what's up? You just got up and left and now you're back here again." Mandy said as she finished up Mallory's pinky toe. " One more foot Mal," she said patting her on the head.

She smiled and shrugged, " I ran into James and he took me off into the gardens."

" Oh really? Details please?"

She rolled her eyes, " Nothing special, we just talked for a while."

" About?" Amanda pressed, Lily grinned, Mandy was in one of her happy moods, she loved it when she was like this.

" He wanted to take me to a movie."

She frowned and bit her lip as she dabbed Mallory's toe with some nail polish remover on a cotton ball, she had gone off the nail, " Movie? Like those muggle picture things that... flash... and are really loud in those really dark rooms?"

Lily laughed hysterically, she still couldn't get over how purebloods knew absolutely nothing about the muggle world, " Yes, that's exactly it."

" So, what'd you say?"

" That's just it," she said twirling a strand of red hair around her index finger, " he wants to take me out tonight. I came up here to talk to you guys about it."

Amanda finished up Mallory's last toe and put the polish away, turning her attention back to Lily, " Okay, well we always spend Friday's together, I don't see why you couldn't go out with James tonight."

She couldn't help but notice a slight look of disappointment cross her noble friend's face, " Well, I thought we could catch a midnight movie, so that way I could spend time with you guys and then some with James too."

" That sounds good, what'd you think Mal?" she asked turning to Mallory, who looked like she was about to explode.

Amanda frowned, " Oh, bugger, sorry Mal," she whipped out her wand and took the charm off of her.

Mallory growled loudly and pinned Amanda down, looking straight at her, " I. Don't. Like. Pink. Nail. Polish." She said slowly and clearly.

Lily giggled, " Told you," she chanted in a singsong voice.

Mandy merely grinned, " Okay, I won't do it anymore if you promise to leave this on until it wears off."

" No," she growled angrily, " It's bloody ugly," she looked towards Lily, " sorry Lils, but it is. Oh-" she added as an after thought " I think you spending the evening with James is fine."

Lily smiled and hugged her friends as best she could since one was being pinned and the other was glaring viciously at the pinned victim.

" Thanks guys! Well I'll just go tell James then, I'll see you two around dinner time."

Mallory smiled and then smirked at Amanda, " See you Lily, ... and now to deal with you."

The last thing Lily saw/heard before she left the room was a white flash and a few seconds later, a loud squeal. She giggled and ran off in the direction of the stairs before Mallory decided, for Merlin knows what reason, to attack her as well.

XxxxX

Mallory, Lily, and Amanda were all spread out on the floor of Lily's bedroom intently watching a muggle movie together, it was called 'Just Friends'. ((A/N: I know this just let out this year... but let's just pretend this was in their time okay??))

After Lily had left Mallory and Amanda alone and Mallory had attacked Amanda, the two had decided that a movie night sounded good for the girls too. Lily had conjured an old television from a muggle furniture magazine and had owled her mom for her new favorite movie.

She had seen this movie around seven times so when the end rolled around she wasn't surprised, angered, or overly emotional about the whole thing, instead she turned to Amanda and took in her new appearance that Mallory had so... graciously... given her.

Her hair was now much shorter, shoulder length to be exact, and slightly more curly, but what stood out most was the bright color. It was green, green with silver stripes in it. Mallory had charmed her with so much power, because she was so angry, that the spell was stronger than usual so when Amanda had tried to remove it and failed... things got ugly.

She turned to Mallory and grinned, out of Amanda's anger, she sent a spell right back at her, making her have inch long, bright pink fingernails that would last at least 8 months because she cast the spell so many times with such anger.

Lily was laying between the two of them just to make sure they didn't try to attack each other anymore.

She snapped back into reality when the credits started to roll and music started to play.

" Well, that's it." she said, waving her wand and turning back on the lights.

Mallory smiled, " That was a really good movie!"

Amanda nodded, " Yeah, we'll have to do this again next week."

As Lily placed the movie back in its case and shoved it into an envelope she nodded, " Okay, sounds good to me... hey what time is it?"

" Uhh, 11:25." Amanda answered, " aren't you supposed to be leaving now?"

She mumbled under her breath as she shrunk the envelope and stuck it to her owls leg, " Take this to Mum." Stella cooed and took off out her open window and into the dark sky dotted randomly by bright, white stars.

Lily turned back to her friends and gave each of them a quick hug, " Yes, I need to go, I was _supposed_ to be downstairs twenty five minutes ago."

With that she sped out of the room, and adjusted her hair and clothes as she ran down the steps shooting off spell after spell. As expected James was sitting on the couch waiting for her, fiddling around with the hem of his blue polo.

" Hey there, ready to go?" She asked as she walked up to him coolly and smiled down at him.

He grinned and stood up, " Yup, just waiting for you."

XxxxX

They apparated to the theater in Lily's hometown, the one she had went to with her father on so many occasions. As they stepped up the the box office she snapped out of her memories and began to scan the listed movies. Among them were several of her favorites; Rose Red, The Notebook, Remember the Titans, and Beaches.

James looked over at her and grinned, " I was thinking we would see 'The Notebook', is that okay with you?"

She looked at him, completely shocked. That was definitely her favorite movie of all time, but it was also a major chick flick.

" Yeah that's fine with me, but, it's a chick flick, you know that right?" she asked.

He nodded, " Yeah, but I heard you really liked it so I don't mind, Plus it can't be that bad."

She smiled up at him and kissed him softly, " You're so sweet."

He just smirked and nodded again, " I know."

James then took his hand from hers and reached into his pocket as he leaned towards the speaker to the box office (( A/N: I hope its called a box office.. heh... not completely sure.))

" The Notebook for two please."

The elderly woman who had heard and seen everything smiled at him from behind her thick glasses in a proud sort of way and nodded.

In a quiet but forceful voice she said, " That'll be 6 pounds please."

He pulled out two galleons, eight sickles and nine knuts and muttered something quietly, he held his hand down low so the woman would think he was searching through his wallet. Lily watched as the money converted into 6 pounds.

He handed the money to the woman and thanked her as she handed him the tickets. The two of them made their way to the concession stand and there they ordered two drinks and a medium popcorn. Together they walked up to the person managing the tickets, he directed them to the theater and in minutes they were seated in the very middle of a dark theater.

" So, tell me," James started, leaning towards her and popping a kernel in his mouth, " how... mushy is this movie?"

She scrunched her nose, " Pretty mushy..."

She smiled at his slightly pouty look, he was just too cute.

" So is this going to make me want to kiss you in the middle of it?" he asked smirking at her.

Lily grinned mischievously, " Well, I hope so."

She leaned over, placing her hand on his arm to steady herself, and planted a gentle kiss on his lips.

He put his right arm around her and kissed the side of her forehead. Lily began to drown in his distinctive scent, so manly, but yet gentle and loving. It was confusing but at the same time delightful and so addicting, she nuzzled her head into the crevice of his neck and mentally smiled, she could sit there like that all night.

" I love you," she heard him whisper sweetly into her ear.

She looked up at him seriously, " I know." giving him another soft kiss, " I love you too."

Just as they pulled away, sound exploded throughout the theater, lights dimmed and the old projector could be heard clicking softly in the background. The movie had begun.

XxxxX

Two hours later the movie ended, James stood up from his seat and stretched, looking down at Lily he could see that she was trying to hide the tears from his view. He smiled slightly and lent down, taking her chin in his hand and lifting her face up towards him.

" Hey." he said quietly, " It was just a movie, no need to cry." He wiped a stray tear away and pulled her up.

Laughing sadly she nodded, " I know, but the end makes me cry every time."

He pulled her close to him as they left the theater and made their way out of the building. He had to admit that the ending was very... touching. James looked down at his wrist and struggled to read the time on his watch. His eyes widened,

" 2:37 in the morning." he said absentmindedly as they rounded the corner.

" Wow, no wonder I'm so tired." Lily said.

James took her hand and apparated them back to the Mansion. They appeared in the middle of the kitchen. With the flick of his wand, James turn on the lights and headed to the fridge. The cold air brushed lightly against his face and hand as he reached in for two butterbeers.

Lily had taken a seat at the bar and grinned at him as he handed her a bottle and stood next to her, not bothering to sit down.

He ran his hand through her soft hair and kissed her on the cheek.

" Why don't we go up to my room and lay down for a while?"

" Sounds good."

He helped her down from the stool and led the way up to his room.

The house was completely silent, as they made their way up the stairs the only sounds that could be heard wear their foot steps and the soft sound of their rhythmic breathing. James pulled out his wand and lit the way, checking back to make sure Lily was still there he glanced over his shoulder smiling at her.

She smiled back but inside her heart was pounding, she didn't like how quiet and dark the house was, she felt as if someone was behind her. Every few seconds she would spin around, clutching onto her butterbeer for dear life, struggling to see through the darkness, and every time, nothing was there. Lily swallowed hard and skipped up to where James was, taking hold of his arm.

" Something the matter?" He asked quietly as if he was afraid of disturbing the eerie silence.

They rounded another corner and approached his door.

" No, I just don't like how quiet it is out there," she responded with a sigh as she stepped into the room.

He laughed, " Oh, don't worry. Sometimes it gets like that here. It almost feels like someone's watching you."

He sat down on the edge of his bed and took of his shoes, laying his drink beside him. Lily put down her butterbeer and took out her wand.

" I'm going to go get into my nightgown, I'll be back in a minute."

James squinted at her and smirked, " Why do you need your wand?"

" It's dark!"

" You're room is two feet away from my door."

She frowned and smacked him playfully. " Oh, shut up."

XxxxX

A few minutes later Lily returned in a light peach colored gown made of silk that reached mid calf, it was one of her favorites. When she opened the door she saw James sitting on the bed, back resting against the backboard with his shirt off. In one hand he held his butterbeer which, by now was half empty, and in the other he held a piece of paper.

She crawled up next to him and slid her arm around his waist, letting her head rest on his firm chest.

" What's that?" she asked as she lightly grazed her fingers across his stomach, she smirked when the muscles quivered under her touch.

He grabbed her hand and looked down at her briefly as if she were making him nervous, " This," he said, shaking the paper, " Is a letter from my mother, she's coming home in a week... and don't do that to me."

She frowned playfully, " Why not?"

" Because it drives me crazy." he mumbled as he let go of her hand and continued to read.

Lily smirked and did it again, this time starting at his collar bone and running her hand all the way down to the lining of his boxers.

James jumped and pushed her hand away, " Lily! Stop that! I'm trying to read."

She laughed and pushed his arm down moving so that she was straddling him, she leaned down and kissed his cheek next to his ear.

" You know you like it," she whispered.

James smirked, " Of course I do."

He pulled her closer and kissed her hard, slowly he wrapped an arm around her waist, letting the letter from his mother flutter down on the floor next to the bed carelessly. James turned her over so that he was on top with out breaking the kiss and ran a hand up her thigh slowly...

All the sudden a sharp tap sounded throughout the room. Lily broke the kiss and jumped, James growled and bit his lip.

" Dammit..." he mumbled as he pushed himself off the bed.

" What was that?" Lily asked in a slightly panicked voice.

The sound resonated throughout the room again, this time they saw where it was coming from.

" It's Fawkes," James said, sighing heavily out of aggravation.

Although Lily was irritated as well she jumped off the bed hastily and followed James to the window. As soon as he had opened it Fawkes flew in and dropped two letters on the nightstand, without wasting a moment he flew back out the window into the darkness with a squawk.

" Don't care to stay, eh? Just like to interrupt..." James muttered angrily before slamming the window shut.

Lily bit her lip and smiled, she gave his hand a quick squeezed and grinned at him before grabbing the letter addressed to her.

" I wonder what this is for." she said quietly.

James groaned, " Well, all I have to say is that this better be damn important!"

Lily laughed, " I'm sure it is." her face grew more serious, " I just hope it isn't bad news."

**A/N: Once again SO SORRY for the wait! I have the next chapter started already, make sure to review, trust me I go much faster when I get reviews.**


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